


How Aphrodite low-key plays Matchmaker

by MaraSenpai1997



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Angst, Character Study (kind of), Demigods, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Minor Violence, Monsters, Non-Chronological, Original Character(s), Quests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-15 20:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11814078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaraSenpai1997/pseuds/MaraSenpai1997
Summary: “Still happy?”“Of course, I mean, being a demigod wasn’t exactly on the planning, but it’s nice,” it was hard to keep the adoration out of his voice and it showed.Leo smiled softly, eyes filled with unreadable emotions. “It’s like having a family.”That sounded about right. “Yeah,” he said, voice shaking with emotions. “Like the family I never had, the friends, I never had. The rest is just a small price to pay.”When his childhood panned out different from other's, Guang Hong had been low-key wishing that he would get his Hogwarts letter at the age of eleven. It only arrived three years later in the form of Pegasi, demigods and a chance of a better life (and a stupid crush).





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse my terrible title.
> 
> I started reading the Percy Jackson books quite a bit ago and I'm such a geek for them. This idea had been here for a while, but I decided to wait a bit till I at least finished the first series, and here we are.
> 
> The characters of the Percy Jackson series won't make an appearance aside from the mythological ones, like the gods and such. I hope that it all makes sense, as I went all out with this... (god, I'm such a nerd)
> 
> Also, the ages of the characters aren't all correct, I think I made a few of them a bit older than they were supposed to be, but hey, laziness.

**April 2017**

“Wait, rewind,” Guang Hong stared at the activity director with disbelief. “You want _me_ to go on an extract mission?”

 

“Yes,” Chiron said. “You can take two people with you if you want. We’re speaking of two demigods- brother and sister, thirteen and fifteen respectively.”

 

Guang Hong blinked at the centaur. “But you want _me_ to go? Why not Emil? As a son of Nike, he has much more creditability than-”

 

“Ji, listen, your godly parent doesn’t determine who you are,” Chiron argued. “You’ve shown you’re a capable demigod- one of the better ones we’ve had in years.”

 

That was a complete and utter lie. He was nothing compared to Nikiforov, a son of _Poseidon_ , one of the big three, or Katsuki, who was a son of Athena, the literal goddess of _war_ and a few other things, like wisdom, diplomacy, _medicine_. What was he compared to them? Just another year-rounder who was pretty much useless. His quest count was a whopping total of two, in which he both was invited along because they happened in the middle of the winter, leaving them with very few campers to pick from.

 

“I’ll do it, okay,” Guang Hong mumbled. “But don’t be disappointed if things go haywire.”

 

Chiron gently patted Guang Hong on the shoulder and offered him an encouraging smile. “Don’t be so pessimistic, I have faith in you.”

 

That made one because Guang Hong had no idea how he was going to do this- heck, he wasn’t even sure who to ask along. Emil seemed to be the most logical choice, as a son of Nike, the goddess of _victory_ , he was a good fighter. He wasn’t as heavily competitive as his siblings, but he had a fighting drive that could rival the ones of the Ares children. And Ares was the literal god of _war_. But the past had shown that Emil only worked well with the Crispino siblings, who was off to college.

 

Another option for a power house was Yuri- not the son of Athena Yuuri but the son of Nemesis Yuri, the one who was actually younger than Guang Hong. But, in all honesty, he did not like Yuri. The blond kid frightened him, even if he was two years younger than him. So, Yuri wasn’t an option either.

 

All in all, Guang Hong left the Big House defeated, already knowing which demigods he would ask along. He wondered if Chiron had taken in account _who_ Guang Hong was going to ask along. Maybe he otherwise would have reconsidered his options.

 

~*~

 

Guang Hong met Leo de la Iglesia _before_ either of them knew they even knew that gods existed. Both had been sent to a boarding school for their high school years, Guang Hong because his father had passed away and the foster system was finally tired of him, and Leo because his stepmother disliked him, _a lot_.

 

They had been roommates for two months, and honestly, everything had been peaceful and pleasant. They had gotten along greatly, shared their struggles with both ADHD, both were mild cases but still, and their horrifying dyslexia. It had been nice to have someone who was going through the same hell.

 

Though, of course, being two boys who had an impressive… Track-Record, things were bound to go wrong. Only the level of wrong was beyond what Guang Hong had been used to. All his life weird things had happened- for a brief moment he thought he was a wizard, but his Hogwarts letter never came. But never before had he came face to face with actual monsters- which had been quite the surprise.

 

**November 2014**

 

They were running for their life. Or, well, at least Guang Hong assumed they were running for their lives. One moment he was having his fencing class, Leo, his roommate, sitting on the sidelines scrolling through his phone, the other moment one of Guang Hong’s classmates attacked him and well, the rest was history.

 

“I thought the school food was the worst thing that could happen to me,” Guang Hong said breathlessly, ignoring his aching limbs or burning lungs. He never had been athletic. “But it seemed that crazy snake women beat that.”

 

He wasn’t sure if it was smart to mention the snake women to Leo- maybe his friend would consider him crazy.

 

Leo almost stumbled over nothing, breath hitching in his throat. “Snake women?” he asked, voice small and airy. “Do you _actually_ see snake women?”

 

Slightly unnerved by his friend’s reaction, Guang Hong nodded as they rounded another corner. The entire school was in chaos, shouts of guns and attacks threw left and right. But there had been no guns, the snake women were carrying things that looked like spears. Nevertheless, there was chaos.

 

By the time they had made it outside, Guang Hong basically collapsed on the ground, lungs aching like crazy. Thankfully, Leo caught him and gently pushed him down on the edge of the fountain. A few seconds later, Leo sat down next to him with a soft sigh.

 

“Did you think we outran them?” Leo questioned, voice strained by heavy breathing.

 

Guang Hong shrugged, burying his face in his hands, feeling like dying. He wasn’t even sure if his voice still worked.

 

“I have seen them before,” Leo said, either realising Guang Hong’s incapability of talking or wanting to fill up the silence. “Monsters- but I thought I was always hallucinating.”

 

Trying to reassure Leo, Guang Hong gently patted Leo’s leg. “We’re safe for now,” he couldn’t even reassure himself.

 

He doubted that they were safe. If the snake women were actually after them, they would be found eventually. But at least they had bought themselves some time, time Guang Hong desperately needed to make his lungs to stop aching.

 

A few students ran past them, but none of them bothered to stop and check on them. Guang Hong couldn’t really blame them- he would run as if his life depended on it. Heck, he had _run_ like his life had depended on it.

 

A curly-haired guy, a sophomore or junior, came to a skidding halt close to them, looking around in bewilderment. Eventually, his gaze was settled upon him and Leo. The guy looked panicked and slightly out of breath.

 

With big eyes, the junior jogged towards them, walking a bit funny. “Are you two okay? What happened?” the guy asked.

 

Leo snorted and shook his head. “Would you believe if we said snake women?”

 

The sophomore grew, possibly, even paler. “Dracaena, seriously?” the guy chewed on the inside of his cheek. “What did they say?”

 

“Nothing,” Leo answered. “They just hissed, flashing their spears and we didn’t stick around to figure out.”

 

The guy started to pace around, muttering under his breath in a panic-like fashion. The only words Guang Hong managed to catch were ‘demigods’, ‘Dracaena’ and ‘hurry’.

 

“You don’t have to worry,” the guy assured, stopping for a brief moment to flash him and Leo a forced smile. “The extraction team should be here soon. Though, they should be in for a surprise,” he mumbled in an afterthought.

 

Frowning, Guang Hong tore his gaze away from the pacing sophomore and turned his attention towards Leo. “Extraction team?” he questioned. Leo also looked away from the sophomore and offered him a hopeless look that read ‘no idea’.

 

About five minutes later, the three snake women came spilling out of the school, hissing in a venomous fury. Recovered plenty, Guang Hong was on his feet in a matter of seconds, Leo following soon. Whatever the extraction team was, it seemed they hadn’t arrived yet. The sophomore was groaning in panic, stamping his feet against the floor as he started to mutter under his breath in an entirely foreign language.

 

“Do we leave him and run?” Leo whispered. “I mean- he’s a complete stranger and-”

 

Then, the extraction team arrived. The extraction team came in the form of two people riding _winged_ horses. _Pegasi_. Guang Hong stared up in awe as the two winged horses landed on the grasses, their riders sliding off their backs with practised ease. Maybe this was the Hogwarts-letter he had been waiting for.

 

The Pegasi were, without a doubt, eye-catching, but their riders were on a whole other level of that. Both men _radiated_ power, a level of power that drew everyone’s attention to them, including the Dracaena. The taller of the two had long, grey hair and cold blue eyes. He had a level of arrogance that irked Guang Hong, but somehow, he had a feeling that arrogance came with great power, a power that was far beyond from that of the snake women. The other male was shorter with shaggy black hair and a pair of glasses balancing on his nose. Like his companion, he radiated power, though it wasn’t as suffocating. However, what was arrogance with the first man, this one held wisdom.

 

“Are you also seeing the winged horses?” Leo asked with a tremor in his voice.

 

“The Pegasi, _yes_ ,” Guang Hong answered. “But I’m more paying attention to-”

 

“Oh, we’re in luck,” the sophomore squealed, jumping in happiness. “They send their best!”

 

Guang Hong wasn’t sure what he meant with that, though he was secretly happy that those two were the best. Because if these two men were just mediocre, Guang Hong wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet anyone more powerful.

 

With his eyes still glued to the pair, Guang Hong saw the silver-haired one take out a sword, the bronze colour shimmering in the sunlight. He just pulled out a sword, a _sword_. Wouldn’t a gun be more useful, and why bronze?

 

The two men exchanged a few words before going separated ways. The silver-haired one strode up to the Dracaena, who had all forgotten about Leo and Guang Hong as if they never existed. The other guy, the shorter one, walked up to them.

 

“Woods, only three Dracaena, really?” the male asked, tiredness in his voice. “You said you smelled multiple presences, not just monsters.”

 

The sophomore, who was called Woods, shook his head. “I couldn’t pinpoint the smell,” he explained excitedly. The new guy seemed to understand him, but both Guang Hong and Leo shared confused looks. “But demigods, there are also demigods here!”

 

This time, the guy looked as confused as Guang Hong felt. “Here?” he asked. “How old are they? You know that demigods are usually found at the age of eleven or twelve, not _sixteen_.”

 

Woods' face started to resemble a ripe strawberry. “How old are you two?”

 

Guang Hong blinked, realising that Woods was talking to him and Leo.

 

“Fourteen,” Guang Hong said.

 

“Fifteen.”

 

The newcomer didn’t seem to be assured. “Are you sure, Woods? I mean, you’re placed at a high school because-”

 

“I’m sure!” Woods stomped his feet in a furry, losing his shoes in the process. Instead of a foot, Guang Hong saw a hoof. _What?_ “He saw the Dracaena- also they were after them.”

 

For a brief moment, Guang Hong looked over where the silver-haired man was fighting the Dracaena. One Dracaena had disappeared completely, probably defeated considering how furious the other two were.

 

“Okay, you two,” surprisingly, the guy's voice wasn’t unkind. “Your parents, who are they?”

 

What kind of question was that?

 

“Never met my mum, dad is dead,” Guang Hong answered.

 

“Never met my mum either, dad remarried.”

 

“Okay, are you two dyslexic?”

 

Guang Hong wondered why this was so important. It seemed that Leo seemed as confused as he was, his lips pushed together in a confused frown.

 

“We both are dyslexic,” Leo answered. “We’re also diagnosed with ADHD if you’re so interested in that,” it was unusual for Leo to act so aggressively, but on the other hand, Guang Hong was getting fed up with the whole thing. He surely would be kicked off the school, especially if they thought he was connected to the ‘attack’.

 

The guy nodded, a small smile on his face. “It seems Woods isn’t wrong, two demigods,” his smile grew brighter, kinder.

 

Demigods. This guy had called him and Leo demigods. What did that even mean?

 

“Demigod?” Guang Hong asked. “Half-gods?”

 

“Yup,” the guy said, popping the ‘p’. “Which means that your mothers were goddesses, for example, my mum is Athena, the goddess of wisdom.”

 

The guy was dead serious. He wasn’t even cracking a smile. Woods wasn’t looked surprised or annoyed either, just relieved that he probably wasn’t the one having to explain this to.

“Yeah, and my dad actually cares about me,” Leo basically _growled_. “Could you explain what’s _actually_ going on or what they put in breakfast this morning.”

 

It was weird seeing Leo so angry, but Guang Hong wasn’t exactly screaming in happiness. It was all confusing, so confusing and foremost, _frightening_. One day, you were living a pretty normal life and the other some strangers tell you your mother is a _goddess_ and that you’re half human and half _god_.

 

“Woods!” the silver-haired guy strode towards them, looking pretty much unharmed. The Dracaena where nowhere in sight. “Did you call us over here for some Dracaena? I was literally dragged out of my lecture for this.”

 

Woods flinched, holding his hands up in a defensive manner. “Nikiforov, two demigods,” he hurriedly gestured to him and Leo. “Sons of goddesses.”

 

Nikiforov grinned, offering both of them a charming smile. “Don’t feel bad about it,” he reassured. “A few of our best demigods are son of goddesses, I mean, look at Yuuri.”

 

Yuuri flushed red, hissing the name ‘Victor’ under his breath before recovering enough to regain his posture that radiates wisdom. “We should leave, it’s safer to explain everything at Camp Half-Blood instead of risking the chance of getting attacked.”

 

**April 2017**

Guang Hong remembered that it didn’t take him long to accept the truth. Camp Half-Blood had almost been paradise compared to the terrors of his boarding school. The people were actually _happy_ to meet him and Leo. They also had been accommodating, or at least their tried to be, in finding out who their godly mothers were.

 

Well… Godly mothers turned out not to be the right praising.

 

**November 2014**

 

Both Guang Hong and Leo had settled down in the Hermes cabin, who had an acceptance policy for unclaimed demigods, something both of them were. Which was, according to Yuuri, was odd. Any demigod above the thirteen was usually claimed within a day of their stay, but two days had passed, and nothing had happened, there was no sign, no letter, nothing.

 

The list of goddesses wasn’t small, and these were just the ones they _actually_ had a cabin for. There were plenty more, but Yuuri didn’t want to overwhelm them immediately.

 

“Well, Hera and Artemis both don’t have demigod children, so they are a no,” Leo pointed out, crossing both goddesses of their list. “I think we can safely cross Nemesis of our list, especially after meeting Yurio.”

 

Guang Hong shuddered, recalling his encounter with the sharp-tongued, scary son of Nemesis. The guy was barely twelve years old, yet he radiated the same level of power as Yuuri and Victor did, who was twenty and twenty-three respectively.

 

“Athena doesn’t sound bad,” Guang Hong said. “Though I doubt that I’m that smart.”

 

“Same.”

 

Leo crossed Athena off their list. It was no use, really. They already joined a few activities and easily figured out their strengths. But these strengths made no sense whatsoever.

 

Leo had a knack for archery, which wasn’t a surprise as he took archery in both middle- and high school. Phichit had suggested that maybe Athena or Aphrodite was his mother, which wasn’t particularly reassuring as Athena was unlikely and being a son of the goddess of love didn’t seem to be appealing.

 

Guang Hong, on the other hand, had a knack for sword-fighting, picking up the skill as if it was his second nature. Maybe the years of fencing had helped him out. The Ares cabin had been very impressed and was almost disappointed when he had explained that his godly parents were a goddess and not the war god Ares. Which left him with the suggestion that maybe his mother was Nike, the goddess of Victory. But as Guang Hong was a far cry from being athletic, he doubted that he was the son of the Victory goddess. He probably was just a son of some unknown goddess that didn’t even had her own cabin.

 

“Still trying to figure out your parent?” Phichit sat down next to Guang Hong, his arrival a complete surprise. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, as Phichit was the son of the god of thievery, but Guang Hong jumped nonetheless.

 

“Yes,” Guang Hong squeaked. “I mean, nothing makes sense- the most logical thing would be if Leo were a son of Apollo, musically talented, good at archery, but-”

 

Then, it felt like if someone switched on their phone in the middle of the night. The entire dining Pavilion was basking in the sunlight that seemingly came of nowhere, causing or several people to close their eyes and hiss in pain. Despite that lunch just had started, there were already many demigods to witness the sudden claiming.

 

When the harsh sunlight faded, Guang Hong slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the spots that ruined vision. A miniature sun was hovering over Leo’s head, now only glowing softly. While his hair had grown a few shades lighter, his skin had gotten a nice tan, as if he had spent an entire summer outside in the sun.

 

People started to clap and whoop, shouting their congratulations. All that Guang Hong could do was stare, stare at Leo with a blank look. Leo was a son of Apollo, but he also had a mortal father… Was this even possible?

 

“Congratulations?” Phichit said sheepishly. “I mean, there is nothing wrong with being a son of Apollo. They’re very bright and happy people overall, and they usually are very blessed in the looks department.”

 

This did little to chase away Leo’s shocked expression.

 

“Phichit,” Guang Hong said slowly. “Leo has a mortal father.”

 

Phichit blinked and his lips formed an ‘o’ shape.

 

So, apparently, male gods could also get children with mortal men… And Guang Hong thought the fire-spewing climbing wall was weird.

 

“Wait, does that mean my dad can be Ares?” Guang Hong asked Phichit, almost hopeful. It didn’t sound too bad to be the son of the war god, especially as the Ares campers pretty much had adopted him.

 

“Does Ares strikes you as a bisexual man?” Phichit asked and, in all honesty, Guang Hong doubted that the god of war was into men.

 

“No really,” he admitted. “But Apollo is?”

 

Phichit nodded. “He had multiple male lovers in the past, with Hyacinth being the most well-known.”

 

Guang Hong blinked. “Wait, they named a plant after one of Apollo’s lovers?”

 

“Well, there is also Daphne, a naiad that caught Apollo’s attention. She transformed into a laurel to escape his advances, which is also the Greek meaning of her name.”

 

**April 2017**

 

In hindsight, he should have taken the hint that his extensive flower knowledge wasn’t coincidental.

 

~*~

 

It wasn’t hard to find Leo. Yesterday there had been a rather brutal game of capture the flag. Long story short, many injuries, which meant that all Apollo campers were needed in the infirmary, even the ones with less affinity of healing, which included Leo.

 

The children of Apollo and the few children of Athena barely reacted when Guang Hong entered the infirmary. Only one daughter of Apollo looked up, as she clearly had desk-duties.

 

“Please tell me you aren’t injured too?” she asked. “It’s already a madhouse here, so, unless you’re on the brink of dying-”

 

“I’m just looking for Leo,” he cut in, watching as her face fell back into relief.

 

“He’s in the medicine closet,” Guang Hong had learnt that the word ‘cabinet’ didn’t fit the monstrosity that was the medicine closet. “The flu broke out last night and with the addition of the capture the flag we have stationed someone to dig through the storage, sorting out everything, checking the stock and find the stuff the other medics need.”

 

Nodding, Guang Hong found his way through the maze of stretchers, beds and Apollo children. He was quite familiar with the Infirmary as his cabin narrowly worked together with the Apollo cabin, especially involving medicine.

 

Knocking on the door of the closet, Guang Hong carefully opened it, making sure he wouldn’t hit his friend, not so low-key crush, right in the face.

 

“How are you doing with the flu outbreak?” Guang Hong asked, offering his best friend a bright smile.

 

Leo smiled tiredly, mindlessly sorting through the bottles with nectar. “Tired,” he said. “I almost wish you would drag me away from here, but I doubt you have a valid reason.”

 

“Actually,” Guang Hong drew out. “Chiron sends me on a quest, an extraction quest, and I wondered if you wanted to tag along?”

 

Leo stilled, body stops moving altogether. “Are you serious?”

 

“I trust you,” Guang Hong admitted. “I would feel far more comfortable if you tagged along instead of, you know, Yurio.”

 

“I’m in,” Leo said almost immediately. “I want to get out of this hell-hole. Will it be just the two of us or will someone join us?”

 

Disappointment crossed Leo’s features despite Guang Hong not even answering yet. Maybe Leo feared he would be stuck alone with him.

 

“I’m planning on asking Phichit,” Guang Hong admitted. “I mean, he will go off to college in a couple of months, and he rarely goes on quests, being a son of Hermes and all.”

 

“We go over the details after dinner?” Leo asked, face growing surprisingly stoic. He probably was hiding his relief.

 

Why had Leo to be bisexual? It would have been much easier if Leo was straight because Guang Hong would know that nursing a crush on him would be fruitless. But there was no denying that Leo wasn’t bisexual. He had been literally there when he confessed his sexuality to his dad, his mortal dad.

 

~*~

 

Despite not knowing Leo for incredibly long back then, Guang Hong had noticed that something had bothered Leo when he was claimed by Apollo as his son. Guang Hong hadn’t blamed him, he too would be pretty shocked if his mother turned out to be his second dad, yet he had the feeling this wasn’t about the fact that he had two dads per se.

 

Yet, he hadn’t expected Leo to tackle his issue face-first, dragging Guang Hong along for moral support. It was almost like meeting the parent, only Guang Hong hadn’t been more than Leo’s semi best friend and ex-roommate.

 

**March 2015**

Leo looks a lot like his dad. From the olive skin to the dark hair and eyes, something that was almost the opposite of the default blond surfer-dude that some of the other Apollo children looked like. The only difference was the age, and the scruffy beard Mr Iglesia sported.

 

“Leo, what are you doing here?” Mr Iglesia asked, looking shell-shocked.

 

Leo glared, crossing his arms. “I came here for answers,” he said coldly. “Like, why did you never tell me you were bisexual?”

 

Guang Hong felt stupid to feel fearful, yet he was scared. He knew that he was gay, which wasn’t too odd to realise at the age of fifteen, especially when you had the desire to kiss your semi-best friend. What if Leo had something against gay people- or anything that wasn’t straight? That would make a friend ship rather awkward between them.

 

“What do you mean son?” Mr Iglesia looked panicked, his face visibly growing pale. “I never slept with-”

 

“My dad,” Leo snapped. “You slept with my _other_ dad. You made me believe for fifteen years I had a mother. Instead, I have a second _dad_. Do you have any idea how terrible I felt when I realised?”

 

A defeated look rested on Mr Iglesia’s face. “How did you figure that out?” he asked quietly.

 

“Well,” Leo’s voice got softer, more himself. “Maybe after dad claimed me as his son- the son of Apollo.”

 

To Guang Hong’s surprise, Mr Iglesia smiles gently, eyes growing soft. Leo really looked a lot like him. “So you figured out you are a demigod.”

 

Leo hummed, nodding his head gently. “Yes, by accident, but it’s all better now,” he took his father’s hands in his own. “There are plenty of other’s like me, Guang Hong even is a demigod too.”

 

With a flustered face, Guang Hong gently waved to Leo’s dad.

 

“Leo’s roommate?” he asked, a vague smile on his face.

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Dad,” Guang Hong was relieved that Leo forced his dad’s attention back to him. “Why did you never tell me?”

 

Mr Iglesia laughed, throwing his head back. “How do you explain a kid that he doesn’t have a mother but two _biological_ fathers. It seemed safer. Plus, I didn’t want to make your experience in school even worse. You already had a single dad, if they knew you had two dads, well…”

 

“It’s still stupid,” Leo whispered. “I- you don’t realise how much it would mean to me if I knew.”

 

It took a few seconds for Guang Hong to realise what was going on. The reason why Leo had been hurt by the fact that his dad kept Apollo a secret. Not because he hated having a second dad- it was the representation that mattered.

 

“Dad,” he started slowly. “I’m also bisexual.”

 

“I actually had a gut feeling,” Mr Iglesia said. “I mean, being a son of two bisexual men, well…”

 

Guang Hong felt intruding as if he wasn’t supposed to be here. It was an emotional moment between father and son, he had no reason to be here.

 

~*~

 

“Thank you,” Leo said, waking Guang Hong up out of his semi-nap.

 

“What?” he questioned drowsily, lulled asleep by the moving of the train.

 

“Thank you,” Leo repeated. “For tagging along, just being there. I think I would have bolted out if you weren’t there with me.”

 

Guang Hong smiled sheepishly. “You probably would be fine,” he pointed out. “I felt like intruding, as I wasn’t supposed to be there.”

 

“Nah, you were just fine.”

 

Those words shouldn’t make him feel as happy as they did. Though, on the other hand, who was he to fight teenage hormones. He had a stupidly silly crush on his pseudo best friend who was into men and women, but the men part is important.

 

“Well, if you ever need me,” he flashed his friend a bright smile. “I’m a couple of cabins away and always ready to help. After all, it isn’t like that I have that many responsibilities.”

 

“Well, keeping me company is a difficult responsibility, so I don’t think you’ll be bored anytime soon.”

 

**April 2017**

 

After dragging himself out of the infirmary and heading towards to the cabins, Guang Hong realised something was wrong. Not in the sense of that monsters were invading camp, more like in the sense of that, there was a conflict between campers.

 

Ares campers, more-often male than not, were chasing around the shrieking and laughing Hermes campers. What _also_ was noteworthy was that the usual orange shirts were currently hot pink. Also, cabin five, the Ares cabin, was no longer coloured an angry colour of red. It was replaced with the same shade of pink as the newly coloured shirts.

 

It was going to be a task to find Phichit, as surely the head of the cabin was involved in this scheme and was hiding away. He might not be the biggest prankster out of all the campers, but out of experience Guang Hong had learnt he never said no to a well-planned prank, even if it involved the angry campers of Ares.

 

“Guang Hong!” one of the Ares campers yelled after losing the Hermes camper he was tailing. “Could you help us with punishing those rascals?”

 

Even despite ending up in another cabin, the Ares cabin still seemed to have a liking towards him, even going as far as unanimously adopting him. It was kind of funny, with Guang Hong being one of the smaller and more fragile campers and the children of Ares being the literal children of the war god.

 

“Sorry, I can’t!” Guang Hong apologised. “I need to find Phichit.”

 

The Ares camper glared, probably accusing him of betrayal.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll give him a piece of my mind,” he hated having to scold Phichit, but as a head-counsellor, he had to set the right example. “I still love you guys!”

 

Unsurprisingly, the Ares camper rolled his eyes, shaking his head in faked annoyance. Yet, Guang Hong easily found a flush colouring his neck red. It clashed horribly with the bright pink shirt.

 

“Ji!” the camper exclaimed. “We have a reputation to uphold.”

 

Sticking out his tongue, Guang Hong continued his quest to find Phichit. It wasn’t exactly surprising to see Phichit hiding out in the Athena cabin, which was basically his second home after befriending ex-head of the cabin Katsuki Yuuri and current head Seung-gil Lee.

 

“Was it your plan?” Guang Hong questioned, climbing up the bunk bed. “The pink shirts?”

 

Phichit rolled around on the bed, looking up from his phone. It was a modified piece that Phichit and a few Hephaestus campers, children of the god of blacksmith, had made. They would attract fewer monsters and still be able to keep up with the outside world.

 

“Nope,” Phichit grinned almost devilishly. “I have been camping out here for a while.”

 

Guang Hong snorted, sitting down on the edge of the bunk, the only place there was no railing. “If you mean hiding, then yes, they were _furious_ , and rightly so.”

 

“Are you seriously going to lecture me?”

 

“What do you think?” Guang Hong raised an eyebrow, offering his friend a disappointed look. “Listen, I know the thrill of pranking, and once in a while, it isn’t too bad. But you’re seriously are committing suicide if you keep on infuriating the Ares campers. Pick other cabins too once in a while.”

 

Phichit pouted. “They’re so easy to prank.”

 

“Yeah, tell that to the Apollo campers,” Guang Hong was glad to see Phichit look guilty.

 

“Fine, I’ll let my cabin tone down the pranking for a bit,” which was, maybe a week or so. “Anyway, is that why you’re here?”

 

Guang Hong shook his head. “No, I need my third men for the extraction mission, and I’m asking if you want to tag along.”

 

Phichit seemed flabbergasted. “Me?” he pointed to himself. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yes?” Guang Hong didn’t understand Phichit’s surprise. While Leo was his very best friend, Phichit was still a good friend of his, one of the closest ones. “Who else would I ask? Plus, with your dad being the god of travelling we’ll have a well-needed travel guide.”

 

Phichit was basically beaming with happiness. “I most definitely will tag along!” for a brief moment, Phichit’s face fell. “Who is joining us though?”

 

“Leo, duh.”

 

Like, who else would Guang Hong ask to tag along?

 

“Wait,” Phichit had a scandalised look on his face. “I’m _third-wheeling?_ ”

 

Third-wheeling? Wait, _what_!

 

“I’m not dating Leo!”

 

Surprisingly, multiple noises of disagreement were thrown his way. Had the Athena campers been listening along the whole time?

 

“Yeah, tell the Aphrodite cabin that,” Seung-gil, head of the cabin, pointed out from seemingly nowhere. “They have been on that case for _ages_.”

 

He disliked the Aphrodite cabin. Not really, they had some of the sweetest people, but still… They must have noticed his attraction towards Leo from the get-go, probably having an entire betting pool going on. After all, love was the speciality of them, whenever it was family, friendship or romantic love. Thankfully they hadn’t dived into erotic love after Chris had headed off to college years ago.

 

“Are they betting on us?”

 

Phichit stuttered a ‘no’, growing flustered, while a few of the Athena campers shouted ‘yes’, following by a handful of explanations and theories _when_ they get together and how.

 

While it was somewhat flattering that people were hopeful that he and Leo might be compatible, it was mostly annoying. It would be a matter of time before the children of Aphrodite would start to meddle with his non-existing love life. He might be around camp for about two years and a half, but he knew how _terrifying_ it was to have the children of love meddling with your love life.

 

“See you after dinner,” Guang Hong mumbled, hoping that Phichit was unable to see the bright flush that painted his face red. “Chiron will give us the details.”

 

With a still somewhat guilty look on his face, Phichit nodded and returned back to his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated. I would be pleased if people point out incorrect facts or have questions because I tried to explain most of it, but I surely missed some things here and there. (Also, it was damn hard to decide on the godly parents- and people complain about Hogwarts houses.)
> 
> Goal is to update this weekly, but we'll see.


	2. Chapter 2

**April 2017**

While Leo had been claimed by his godly parent in a bright, eye-catching manner, Guang Hong’s claim was much more subtle, almost disappointing. On the other hand, most demigods were claimed that way. Only a few gods had a flair for being dramatic, like Apollo and Aphrodite.

 

Unlike Leo, it took his parent a bit longer to claim him, which was odd as usually, a demigod was claimed by their parent once they hit the age of thirteen, Guang Hong was already well into the age of fourteen at the time. But at last, on day five of his stay in Camp Half-Blood, a sign floated above his head, officially assigning him to a cabin.

**November 2014**

 

In the span of five days, Guang Hong surpassed most of his class when it came to sword fighting. Still unclaimed, he was still under the wing of the Hermes cabin, who clearly weren’t the biggest fighters. They weren’t un-athletic, Tartarus, they were very fast on their feet, but they weren’t too fond of wielding swords and sparring. They rather do their Hermes kids’ stuff like pranking, burgling and travelling.

 

“Yield!” Guang Hong shouted, disarming one of the older Hermes campers and pressing the tip of his wooden sword against her chest.

 

Holding her hands up in the air in forfeit, Guang Hong lowered the sword and wiped away the sweat with the bottom of his shirt.  It was insane how rapidly he improved sword-fighting wise as if he was born for it. But that was very unlikely, as he definitely wasn’t a child of Ares.

 

“Break time,” the instructor, an older child of Ares, announced. “Five minutes.”

 

The Hermes campers plus Guang Hong made their way to the occupied benches. Guang Hong headed straight for one of the Nike campers, Emil. He was about his age, a little bit older than him, yet younger than Leo. But foremost, he was kind and not as competitive as his siblings, something that usually came with being the son of the goddess of victory. Also, he was just a kind person and nice to be around.

 

“Are you sure your mum isn’t Nike?” Emil asked as he handed Guang Hong a towel and a bottle of water. “You have a knack for sword-fighting.”

 

Drowning water like a dehydrated man, Guang Hong shook his head. “Doubt it,” he mumbled. “I think my mum isn’t that epic.”

 

“Aphrodite?” Emil suggested, though there was no tease in his voice.

 

“I hope not,” Guang Hong said. “But seeing as three different cabins already had tried to draft me, it seems I have some likability.”

 

A frown looked weird on the usually smiling Emil. “Three? Who else? Next to Ares and Nike?”

 

“The Demeter cabin- they were having some issues with plants and as my dad was a landscaper and dragged me along to his job a lot,” Guang Hong made a vague hand gesture. “I helped them out with some weed issue.”

 

Suddenly, the sun finally broke through the cloudy sky, gently casting light on the arena. Or at least, that’s what Guang Hong thought at first. A few seconds later, he realised everyone was looking at him, jaws dropped, and limbs stilled mid-movement.

 

Looking up, Guang Hong saw something that vaguely resembled wheat. Oh, _oh_. He was being claimed.

 

“It seems that Cabin 4 got their wish after all,” Emil said, there was no spite in his voice whatsoever.

 

Finally, the full realisation hit him like a punch in the stomach. His mother was _Demeter_ , the goddess of agriculture and, also, the mother-in-law of Hades, who is also her brother. Greek mythology never failed to both surprise and confuse him.

 

He was the son of the god of farming… Well, he hadn’t been wrong when he said his mother wasn’t epic. Though, he wasn’t exactly ready to fully disgrace his mother. She was one of the Olympian goddesses- probably one of the oldest ones, if not the oldest ruler on Olympus. Yeah, okay, he wasn’t going to curse his mother into oblivion. Being a son of Demeter wasn’t so bad, there was at least no expectations.

 

**April 2017**

 

“I’m not sure if this is a smart idea,” Guang Hong commented, eyeing the Flying Chariot with distaste.

 

It was an enchanted chariot, pulled by two Pegasi and it could _fly_ , hence the name. This would make their trip to Pittsburgh a lot faster and foremost, _safer_. Travelling over land by car or public transport would attract a lot more monsters and also would bring danger to the mortals. Nevertheless, Guang Hong and flying didn’t go hand-in-hand, really.

 

“It’s a perfectly fine idea,” Phichit protested, going through his luggage for the nth time. It seemed that he had packed _everything_ for a one-day trip, two tops literally. “It’s faster, and all we have to worry about are some vengeful Storm Spirits.”

 

Guang Hong moaned, wishing that they actually would have taken the public transport. But, as the chariot was co-owned by the Ares and Apollo cabin, and with Leo be the head of the Apollo cabin and with Guang Hong being the Ares children unofficial half-brother, it was a piece of cake borrowing the chariot.

 

“Are you telling me you are afraid of heights?” Phichit asked, this time sounding more concerned and less teasing. Guang Hong was glad that Leo was still sorting some things out with his cabin, particularly who would be temporary cabin-head.

 

“Yes,” Guang Hong hissed. “I’m not a son of Hades or Poseidon, so I won’t anger Zeus, but I’m a son of _Demeter_. You know, plants, greenery, nature, _earth_.”

 

If it hadn’t been for Leo finally showing up, Phichit surely would have teased him a little, before comforting him. Sometimes Guang Hong wondered why he even was friends with the son of Hermes. Maybe because he was around Guang Hong’s age, somewhat, or that Phichit was one of the first friends he had made since his arrival in Camp Half-Blood. Though, probably because Phichit was actually a nice person and Guang Hong blamed puberty for any bitchy thoughts.

 

Leo looked good out in the sun. Puberty had been kind to him, or his godly father, because Leo looked like he walked right off a movie set. His hair was tied back with a few strands framing his face, his skin had a natural glow to it, though Guang Hong assumed that was an Apollo thing, and the tank-top he was wearing showed off strong arms. It wasn’t surprising, despite being a far-cry from their best archer, Leo still spends many hours practising. In addition to that, it seemed that the Apollo children had a better physique to gain muscles than, let’s say, the Demeter or Aphrodite children. To finish everything off, Leo was wearing Greek battle armour. He and Phichit also were wearing Greek battle armour, but it looked better on him. Or Guang Hong was just biased because he had a crush on Leo.

 

“Sorry for taking so long,” Leo apologised. “Minami was so excited to become temporary head that he couldn’t sit still, at all.”

 

Realising he was pretty much drooling, now he understood how the Aphrodite cabin had figure out his crush, Guang Hong snapped his jaw closed and flashed Leo a smile. “Don’t worry. We should be in Pittsburgh in, like, five hours if there are no Storm Spirits- the siblings will be no issue, Woods is keeping an eye on them after all.”

 

It was nice to hear that the Satyr hadn’t been discharged after failing to notice that both he and Leo had been a demigod. Two demigods who had been attending the same school as the Satyr for over two months. Nevertheless, Woods didn’t lose his job and was still send to other schools to try to find other unclaimed demigods, which had resulted in this extraction mission.

 

“I reckon that it’s doable,” Leo said as if they hadn’t gone over the plan last night for at least five times. “Who drives?”

 

Guang Hong paled and shook his head. The prospect of flying wasn’t appealing and being the one in control would make things _worse._ Thankfully, Phichit volunteered excitedly.

 

They made quick work of loading their luggage on the chariot and securing it, because, after all, old-fashioned Greek chariots weren’t exactly luggage friendly so there wasn’t an actual storage unit.

 

For a brief moment, Guang Hong felt calm and foremost, excited. It wasn’t often he left camp, as he was a year-rounder and college was at least another year away. Plus, he got an important mission. Not to retrieve some god their lost items or some boring-ass scouting mission. An actual extraction mission usually the better demigods were selected for.

 

This peaceful moment, however, was shattered the moment he stepped on the chariot. It was wobbly, and Guang Hong’s stomach dropped.

 

“I think I’ll die,” he groaned, tightly gripping the railing of the chariot. “I swear Phichit, for Demeter’s sake, keep this thing stable.”

 

Phichit cackled, a devilish smile on his face. Why again was he trusting a child of Hermes? He was going to die right there, probably topple of the chariot mid-flight. Phichit would mourn for him, Leo too and move on. The Ares cabin probably would demand the right to make his burial shroud-

 

Guang Hong flinched as Leo placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “It’ll be fine. We’re no children of Zeus with crazy wind-control, but as three not-so powerful demigods we shouldn’t encounter too much trouble.”

 

For a brief moment, Guang Hong believed Leo. It seemed that Leo had that effect on him. But, despite not being powerful demigods, they were bound to attract problems.

 

~*~

 

They did encounter issues, and Guang Hong had to whip out his fancy, Celestial bronze weapon, a gift from the combined efforts of Leo and the Hephaestus and Ares campers.

 

**February 2016**

They were all gathered around the campfire, the fire flickering merrily as the campers were in a good mood. Guang Hong was squeezed between two fellow Demeter campers, one who was happily chatting with her girlfriend from the Athena cabin, while the other was having a blast pranking a few Hermes campers. As the head of the cabin, even just in the offseasons, Guang Hong should scold her. But he let it slide. It was sweet revenge for the prank that made their grass cabin floor into a swamp, sucking the Demeter campers down till at least their middles, a few of the younger ones had been up to their neck in the muddy earth.

 

Wrapping the blanket closer around his body, the winter this year was pretty harsh, Guang Hong gently hummed along to the sing-along the Apollo children had organised. A lot of the Apollo campers were great singers, some better than others. They were, in all honesty, one of the most blessed children. There were Apollo children who were musically talented, like Leo, but there were also great healers, archers and once in a while someone had some future-telling potential. Especially if you compared that to other campers, like the Demeter campers that mainly were specialised in flora, or the Hephaestus campers who were all engineers or the Aphrodite children who were mainly known for, well, _love_. Though the real poor souls were the children of Hebe, who was only really known for their youthful appearance.

 

The Apollo children started to play another pop song Guang Hong was unfamiliar with when someone tapped on his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, Guang Hong saw the head of the Hephaestus cabin looming over him, arms crossed and a stoic look on his face. Otabek looked far more intimidating than he actually was, it was just the strong build and rugged look that made him look frightening. Though his love for motorcycles didn’t help much to brighten his bad boy persona.

 

“Do you have time?” Otabek asked, not unkind.

 

Guang Hong had no idea what Otabek wanted from him, the Demeter and Hephaestus cabin weren’t particularly close, they didn’t share any activities. Most of the time the Demeter cabin shared activities with either the Apollo or Dionysus children. But nonetheless, it would be rude to say no, he had time.

 

“Sure, if you have a second?”

 

Otabek nodded, and Guang Hong gently tapped the Demeter girl on the shoulder who was terrorising the Hermes children.

 

“If I’m not back before curfew, can you get everyone to bed?” the girl blinked once, twice, before nodding, grinning cheekily. She probably realised that Guang Hong wasn’t even going to bother telling her off, so she was willing to take over the duty for one night.

 

Getting up, Guang Hong tightened the hold on his blanket and gave Otabek a nod. “Now I have time.”

 

Like most Hephaestus children, Otabek wasn’t a man of many words. After all, to quote Phichit, the children of fire were ‘better with machines than humans’.

 

Surprisingly, Otabek led him to the forges. What Otabek wanted from him, he wasn’t sure. Maybe there were some pesky plants they needed to deal with, or maybe Otabek wanted a place that was somewhat private to talk with him. Though, Guang Hong wondered _what_ Otabek would even want from him, they barely talked, the most they talked was with the meetings during the off-season, as the normal head of Demeter only stayed in the summer.

 

“So, why do you need me?” Guang Hong asked as soon as they entered the forge. It was warm and dirty, tools were scattered all across workbenches, the fires were going strong as if they campers were still working, yet the forge was completely deserted.

 

“The Ares campers had noticed that you don’t have a personal weapon yet,” Otabek said, walking past the workbenches like second nature. “So they asked if we had something that would fit your fighting. We didn’t, but we could _make_ it. It took a bit, were needed quite a bit Celestial bronze and it was hard to come by, but the Hermes cabin managed to provide for us.”

 

Otabek handed him a long, sleek sword. It looked a lot like the sabre he used for fencing, but it wasn’t flexible, and it was heavier, yet not too heavy.

 

“A sabre?” Guang Hong questioned, gently making movements. The blade was a bit broader than he was used to, but it felt right. He was surprised that the Ares kids even figured out what fitted his fighting style, quick, fast jabs.

 

“A rapier,” Otabek corrected. “Iglesia mentioned you liked to fence and were good at it, the Ares concluded that your fighting style was inspired by fencing. Hence we decided to settle down on this.”

 

Feeling all giggly, Guang Hong admired the sword. Holy Demeter, he just got his own sword. His mother hadn’t bothered to gift him a weapon, probably having to do with the fact that the children of Demeter usually were less offence focused and more defensive. And, if they were offence-focussed, they would choose their nature power and not a sword.

 

“Thanks,” Guang Hong said, basically hugging the sword close to his chest. “What do you want for it.”

 

Otabek chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, happy Ares campers are always nice to have and having Iglesia in a good mood isn’t bad either- he might save us from another top forty sing-alongs.”

 

Guang Hong chuckled. Leo was in charge of the sing-along at the campfire, and people usually could put in requests. This included very, very specific requests. Top forty was shitty, the Disney was well-loved by pretty much everyone and everyone hummed along with the movie soundtracks, especially when they started to play the Jurassic Park theme, as apparently dinosaurs still managed to amaze demigod children. Still, the top forty usually won by a landslide, even if it was just to annoy the other campers, the Hermes campers in particular who weren’t in a good book with, well, a lot of campers.

 

**April 2017**

It was nice, having a sword and all, it made it easier to defeat monsters because one touch of Celestial Bronze and they were send immediately back to Tartarus, which probably is the worse brother of hell if Guang Hong had to believe the rumours. The issue was _touch_. Storm Spirits weren’t exactly… solid.

 

Groaning in frustration, Guang Hong jabbed his blade at a taunting spirit. All it did was keeping it at bay, but that was all they needed for Phichit to land the chariot.

 

“Just let me hit you,” Guang Hong groaned, slicing the air and making a few of the spirits back away, out of the range of his weapon.

 

This was suicidal, absolutely suicidal. One turbulence and Guang Hong would be plumping to his death. Okay, that was a lie, he had tied a rope around himself before he had climbed on the railing of the chariot to get a better reach at the monsters. He regretted not taking a bow and arrow with him like Leo, who was shooting at the pranksters from the safety of the chariot.

 

“Phichit!” Leo bellowed over the howling wind. “How long do you need!”

 

A sudden gust of wind rocked the chariot, and for a few moments, Guang Hong thought he was going to die. He didn’t, his demigod reflexed kept him balanced on the railing, but it wasn’t pretty.

 

“I don’t know! I’m trying to land in Harrisburg!” it was surprising that Phichit was even audible in the roaring wind.

 

Sometimes, Guang Hong forgot that Hermes wasn’t just the god of thieves but also travellers. Phichit probably had an amazing sense of direction, especially considering Guang Hong had no idea where they were. They could have been flying in circles for all he knew.

 

One of the spirits that had been taunting him had loosened their defence, which gave Guang Hong the opportunity to strike and turn the monster into dust. That had been a mistake.

 

Guang Hong felt himself tip forward, one of his feet dangling in the air.  The spirits were cheering, clearly unfazed by the sacrifice one of their brothers made, as long as it meant the death of a demigod. Now he _was_ going to die, even the rope wouldn’t save him. After all, the spirits just had to cut right through the moment he was dangling.

 

Before actually plumbing to his death, Guang Hong felt himself being yanked back, body painfully landing on the carriage floor.

 

“Stay down!” Leo shouted. “We’re going to crash.”

 

As Leo returned to firing to the spirits, trying to keep the damage to the chariot minimum, Guang Hong dared to look down. They were approaching the ground at a terrifying speed, grassland stretching far and wide. This definitely wasn’t going to be a pretty landing, especially if they couldn’t find a body of water to land in.

 

The Pegasi were making distress noises, probably thinking the same as Guang Hong. They probably were going to crash smack-dab into a wheat field, and it wasn’t going to pretty.

 

Guang Hong blinked, suddenly realising that they were actually were hovering above the _earth_. You know, the same earth that Guang Hong had used in the reasoning why he didn’t like heights. He was the son of Demeter. He could control the flora and the earth to some extent. This was supposed to be his _speciality_.

 

“Phichit! Just land it, I got us.”

 

They probably were going to die.

 

With no longer having to search for a body with water, Phichit let the chariot lower at a rapid pace, shaking off the Storm Spirits that were still following them. Scrunching up his face in concentration, Guang Hong tried to connect with the earth below him. It was so much easier when he actually _touched_ the ground, but it would be too late by then.

 

Phichit unhooked the reins of the Pegasi, letting the winged horses saved themselves. With a soft squelching sound, the chariot crashed into the muddy ground. It still hurt, a lot, but they at least were alive.

 

Groaning, Guang Hong pushed himself on two feet. They thankfully weren’t sinking any lower, so his prayers to his mum hadn’t gone by unheard. While Demeter wasn’t exactly the goddess of the earth itself, that was Gaea, very lovely lady, it seemed that creating something like a nice pool of mud to crash into was doable.

 

“Quicksand, really?” Phichit had sunken into the mud till his armpits, struggling to even move around. “Guang Hong, you said you got us.”

 

Guang Hong rolled his eyes and managed to haul himself out of the pit of mud. “It isn’t quicksand, idiot,” he pointed out, untying to rope from his waist. “It’s mud- mum did us a favour.”

 

Like Guang Hong, Leo managed to haul himself out of the mud pit. His hair was matted with dirt, which was going to pain to wash out, but next to that, he seemed to be pretty okay.

 

“We should have taken the public transport,” Leo moaned, pushing his hair out of his face. “I doubt we’re getting this thing in the air anytime soon and we can’t just leave it behind.”

 

No, they definitely couldn’t. The Ares cabin would have their _heads_. Losing the Flying Chariot to a mud bath.

 

“Agree, maybe-”

 

“Maybe you can get me out first?”

 

Phichit was struggling against the mud, trying to move around and get himself to the edge. It wasn’t working out for him, both the partly sunken chariot and the thick mud were at fault for that.

 

He knew he should pity his friend, but it also was highly amusing.

 

“Maybe we could leave him,” Guang Hong suggested. “We would have someone keeping an eye on the chariot while we continue our journey to Pittsburgh.”

 

Leo put on an exaggerated thinking face, taking his sweet time to consider the options. They wouldn’t leave Phichit behind, he was their friend, but annoying their residential prankster was always worth the effort.

 

“Splitting up might not be a bad idea,” Leo said slowly, sounding as if he _really_ was considering it.

 

Phichit seemed to buy their teasing. “Don’t leave me behind!” he shouted hysterical, slamming his arm in the mud. “Leave Guang Hong behind, he’s our best fighter. I’m not much of a fighter, at all.”

 

Leo caved in when Phichit looked seconds away from having a panic attack. Maybe there was a reason Phichit didn’t go on many quests- the son of Hermes wasn’t much of a fighter. Though he would be an amazing tour guide.

 

“We won’t leave you,” Leo assured Phichit between laughter. “But we _do_ need to find a way to store the chariot somewhere safely- I don’t want some random monster to find it and destroy it.”

 

Surprisingly, Phichit’s face lit up, a bright smile on his face. “Maybe should ask my dad for a favour, Hermes is after all the messenger of the gods, he surely could do a delivery for us.” 

 

~*~

 

Phichit’s father had been in a good mood, it seemed. It only had cost them a few Golden drachmae, the currency used amongst the gods, to get the chariot send to Camp Half-Blood with Hermes Express. Usually, things like that were too big, and the fact it was mud-covered didn’t help, but the messenger god had just shrugged, accepted their payment, offered them good luck and left with the chariot.

 

The Pegasi, who had turned up in time to pull the chariot out of the mud, had been sending home. It would be no use to take them along, there was only room for four at most, and if everything went well, they would return to Camp Half-Blood with five people at least. After sending off the Pegasi, they had collected their luggage and weapons and headed off to the city of Harrisburg.

 

Guang Hong had never been in Harrisburg, and in all honesty, the sole reason they had decided to land there was that it was fairly large. There surely was some public transport that could bring them to Pittsburgh. Or at least, that had been Phichit’s argument. In this case, Guang Hong decided to just trust Phichit.

 

It was a five-hour hike towards the city, and Guang Hong was _exhausted_. The mud on his clothes weighed him down significantly, and they hadn’t crossed any bodies of water where they could wash themselves. This also earned them a few odd glances. They had their weapons, Leo had stored his bow and quiver in something that resembled a guitar-case, and Guang Hong had stored his rapier in his big camping-bag. With the help of concealing magic that was called the Mist, it probably looked like camping equipment. Still odd- April wasn’t the most camping-friendly month, but it would do. Phichit, with only carrying around a dagger, simply had strapped the thing to his leg and hid it underneath his sweats.

 

Thankfully, they had some money on them, so they actually _could_ buy new clothes. Just not as luxurious as they wanted. But that’s what thrift shops are for, cheap clothes and not too many questions. A few odd looks, but that was expected with them being covered in mud, especially Phichit who looked like he had taken a mud bath.

 

“I like your shirt,” Phichit teased, hiding his hands in the sleeves of his green, Christmas-teamed sweat-shirt. “Very…manly.”

 

Leo was stuck with a bright pink Hawaiian shirt. The son of Apollo refused to wear a sweater because it was too ‘warm’. It clearly was an Apollo kid thing, because Guang Hong was warming his hands in the pockets of his grey, probably female, NASA sweat-shirt. It was a pretty cold spring day.

 

“Says the man with an ugly Christmas sweater,” Leo muttered, nervously plucking the hem of the shirt.

 

Patting Leo on the back, Guang Hong offered him a gentle smile. “It’s just a shirt, we’re going to sit in a poorly lit bus to Pittsburgh for four hours anyway, nobody will see it, or even care.”

 

It was well into the afternoon by now and, if they were lucky, they would arrive in Pittsburgh somewhere in the evening. Figuring out where the school was an entirely different story, but baby-steps. Getting to Pittsburgh was already quite an achievement.

 

“Oh yeah, talking about that,” Phichit started slowly, an innocent look on his face. “We’re with three people- who is going to be third-wheeling?”

 

Guang Hong stared at Phichit with a passive face.

 

“I think you already know the answer,” Guang Hong pointed out, and Phichit’s face fell.

 

“Leo?” Phichit asked hopeful, switching his gaze to the other brunet. “Please?”

 

“Do you really want to sit next to someone who wears a pink floral shirt?” Leo asked in a teasing manner.

 

Phichit let out a defeated groan, throwing his hands up in the air. “You promised me that I wouldn’t be third-wheeling,” he said in an exaggerated fashion. “But I’m still third-wheeling!”

 

A flush heated up Guang Hong’s face in a way that the actual sun couldn’t. Why did Phichit have to say it like that, it sounded as if-

 

Leo cursed under his breath as he stumbled over basically nothing, a flush darkening his cheeks.

 

“We aren’t-” Leo spluttered, voice several octaves higher than usual. “I mean-”

 

Guang Hong missed the almost hopeful tone in Leo’s voice. Instead, he felt like he suddenly had run out of air. Leo _really_ didn’t want to date him- otherwise, he wouldn’t react like _that_. Otherwise, he might have awkwardly waved it off, maybe be a bit uncomfortable, but not that strongly.

 

“Phichit, you aren’t third-wheeling,” Guang Hong managed to say calmly. “You just have terrible tact and make enemies at the wrong time.”

 

Once again, Phichit took the lead for their trip through Harrisburg, somehow knowing where to go despite never having been there before. Leo lingered behind the son of Hermes, head ducked and fingers nimbly playing with the hem of his shirt. Guang Hong decided to make up the rear, shamelessly staring at the back of Leo’s neck. Why did he have to like someone who wasn’t even remotely interested in him? He was friends with Phichit, whose sexuality was up in the air, but it wasn’t awkward between them. They were just friends, no romance attached despite the possibility. Why couldn’t he have this relationship with Leo?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never set foot in America, so all this stuff is based on google maps research and the familiarity of names due to my dad's baseball obsession. So yeah, the update is a tad earlier than originally planned, but I find Sunday a much nicer update day than Tuesday so...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate using oc's but this time I really couldn't get around using names... ugh, I'm terrible at making oc's.

**April 2017**

 

Guang Hong hated to admit that in the end, Phichit _actually_ ended up third-wheeling. Despite the clock just hitting evening, Guang Hong was out cold, not so subtly snuggling against Leo’s side. He just could blame his overall clingy nature for that, he enjoyed hugging people. Plus, it was chilly, so huddling together for warmth wasn’t too farfetched. Admittedly, he could have lived without the drooling, on the other hand, it was a part of the package. You couldn’t get the few pros of cuddling with Guang Hong without getting the truck-load of cons, which included being clingy, drooling and a whole batch of insecurities.

 

Thankfully, Leo _also_ had fallen asleep, which meant that he had seen little of Guang Hong’s drooling episode. However, Phichit _had_ , and had captured the moment for some well-needed blackmail material. They arrived in Pittsburgh safely, not attracting any monsters. It wasn’t particularly surprising, none of them were strong demigods, or at least didn’t radiate that. They weren’t like the legendary son of Poseidon Victor, or like the Crispino twins, children of Ares, who were labelled one of the most dangerous demigod duo of them all. They were just a son of Apollo with an affinity for music, a son of Hermes with a knack for business and engineering till some degree and a son of Demeter who was only mediocre when it comes to controlling the flora he was supposed to have completely mastered.

 

“So, did Woods give you address?” Leo asked, stretching his limbs.

 

Guang Hong nodded, taking out the slip of paper that miraculously had survived their mud bath. “Some boarding school, fitting.”

 

Phichit scrunched up his nose. “What’s up with parents dumping their demigod children in a boarding school,” he mumbled. “Like, I feel like half of the people back at camp had been to a boarding school.” 

 

If Seung-gil had been there, the son of Athena surely would have whipped up some calculations to prove Phichit wrong, whenever the number was larger or not. Thankfully, Seung-gil wasn’t there to bestow his cleverness on them.

 

“Well, if we based on us three we-”

 

“No maths, please,” Guang Hong groaned, rubbing his tired eyes. “We should fetch a cab and get to the school, and _hopefully_ , Woods knows a place where we can sleep,” Guang Hong stifled a yawn. It was well past ten, and he was tired, despite his nap. He wasn’t going to risk fighting some monster in the darkness, half-dead. Especially considering that he was their main-fighter. Fetching the demigods could wait for tomorrow.

 

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t we just go to some motel and call it a night?” Phichit questioned, already going through his wallet to see how much money they had left.

 

Leo took, to his delight, Guang Hong’s side. “Our presence in the city alone must alarm a few monsters if we stay at a motel, the monsters might decide to act fast instead and attack the siblings instead of waiting, as they’re doing now. If that happens, we won’t be there in time. So, if we’re at the school, we can step in before things can get life-threatening.”

 

Phichit nodded solemnly. “Well, let’s find a cab, I’m beat and unlike _you two_ ,” Phichit threw both him and Leo an accusing look. “I haven’t slept a wink because someone had to keep guard.”

 

Leo nodded and split up from the two, probably trying to haul a cab while Phichit was going to be annoyed and grumpy.

 

“Sorry?” Guang Hong apologised, smiling unsurely.

 

“It’s okay,” to his surprise, Phichit offered him a sympathetic smile. For a brief moment, Phichit’s eyes wandered over to Leo retreating figure.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Guang Hong said, unable to smile fully. “It’ll pass.”

 

~*~

 

Somehow, Woods had managed to sneak them into the school, guide them through the hallways unnoticed till they arrived at the Satyr’s bedroom. _Shared_ bedroom.

 

The expression on the kid’s face was priceless. The school was, for whatever reason, both a middle- and high school, because Woods could pass as a Senior, but definitely not an 8th-grader. By the looks of it, the roommate _was_ an 8th-grader, maybe thirteen years old.

 

He was… cute. He wasn’t going to flirt with the kid- Guang Hong probably was four years his senior, but he could appreciate a cute face that certainly, this kid would have the ladies swooning in the future.

 

“What’s going on?” the roommate asked, jaw dropped and eyes big.

 

Woods laughed sheepishly- well, more goatly- and rubbed his neck in discomfort. “Daniel, these are, uhm, friends of mine who were supposed to be visiting today, but there were issues with the transport, and they needed some place to crash.”

 

Guang Hong wondered why Woods almost immediately mentioned the kid’s name. It wasn’t like they had anything to do with him after today, the three demigods would just sleep here, fetch the two demigod siblings and leave, unless-

 

While Woods and Daniel were discussing things in hushed whispers, Guang Hong took another look at the kid. For a thirteen-year-old, he was pretty fortunate, no acne whatsoever. He had strawberry blond hair, freckles splattered across his nose and soft blue eyes framed by glasses. He looked average, yet he looked _pretty_.  


“Leo,” Guang Hong hissed, elbowing his friend against his arm. “Do you get weird vibes from him?”

 

For a few short moments, Leo eyes him with confusion, before nodding. “Yeah, a bit like with the Aphrodite children, that without their filter on they look average but when their filter is on…”

 

“They can average look pretty,” Guang Hong finished.

 

Talking about coincidence. Woods’ roommate was probably the younger brother they had to pick up. This might also be the reason Woods’ even noticed it, after all, the Satyr had shared a room with this kid for at least half-a-year and the past had shown Woods wasn’t the most alert Satyr of them all.

 

Leo informed Phichit about their findings, or at least their speculation, in low whispers and lot of hand gestures. Phichit managed to hide his surprise well, though the flickering of his gaze over to Daniel didn’t go unnoticed.

 

“Fine, they can stay,” Daniel snapped, glaring daggers at Woods. “One night, don’t touch my stuff,” he continued, this time to eye the three demigods. “And no gross businesses, this is a romance-free room.”

 

Phichit looked almost disappointed, his fingers visibly twitching to go through the stuff that was put on the shelves. Probably a son of Hermes thing. The ‘romance-free room’, however, was a bit odd, considering that Daniel probably was a son of Aphrodite.

 

“A romance-free room?” Phichit questioned, obviously trying to distract himself from shamelessly exploring the room.

 

Daniel dramatically rolled his eyes, leaning on the railing of the top-bunk. “I’m young, not stupid. The two of you radiate romance,” he gestured vaguely to Guang Hong and Leo.

 

Definitely a son of Aphrodite. Had it been this easy when he didn’t know his godly parent yet.

 

A protest laid on the tip of his tongue, ready to be thrown out in the open, yet Guang Hong couldn’t force the words past his lips. If there _was_ romantic chemistry between them, maybe Leo liked him a bit. Though, in all honesty, he doubted it. Being still rather young, Daniel probably had mistaken close friendship with romantic feelings.

 

The bedroom was a tight fit, and none of them was in the mood to spoon with Woods and Daniel was clearly off limits, so the three of them had to arrange themselves on the small floor space. After fitting and rearranged their sleeping bags, Guang Hong and Leo, the two losers of rock-paper-scissors, were forced to share a sleeping bag and spoon while Phichit had the rest of the floor-space for himself. It still wasn’t much, the boarding school wasn’t really generous with the space in the bedroom, but it would do for one night. Heck, it wasn’t the first time Guang Hong shared a tight space with Leo, but that didn’t make it comfortable. It was easier to spoon with a fully straight guy than a bisexual guy who you were crushing on.

 

Despite having made it clear he wasn’t happy with the appearance of three strangers in his room, Daniel was one nosy fellow. “Isn’t it uncomfortable?” he asked after the lights were switched off.

 

Guang Hong wanted to answer, but he feared his voice would betray him. If his heart hadn’t already because the bloody organ was beating like crazy.

 

“Sleeping on the floor?” Phichit asked. “It isn’t too bad; we’ve done it before.”

 

The next question followed immediately. “Even so close?”

 

“Spooning? Me not, these two, yes,” Phichit let out a chuckle, and Guang Hong felt Leo twitch, grumbling under his breath. That wouldn’t have been so bad if Leo wasn’t breathing against Guang Hong’s exposed neck. “The heating system in our school once broke down in the middle of the winter, and everyone was freezing their ass off. So we all moved to one, communal room and spend the night there together.”

 

Phichit was a natural actor, he didn’t even hesitate while bending the truth, didn’t drop the word ‘camp’ or ‘the forges’. The latter in particular would be hard to explain because no school had a class in blacksmithing. Archery and fencing were already quite something, but creating weapons out of metal was an entirely different level.

 

“Can I come to your school?” Daniel asked, excitement rich in his voice. “This one is so dull- they would never let us do that if the heater broke down. Though my sister would throw a hissy fit if I left…”

 

Yup, Daniel probably was their guy. That made monitoring them a lot… easier. Though it was going to be fun explaining to the kid his mother was actually Aphrodite, the goddess of love. It wasn’t the most appealing godly parent for a boy, just like Ares or Hephaestus wasn’t the most appealing parent for girls.

 

**December 2016**

One of the perks of Camp Half-Blood was that the weather was always stable. Even in the middle of the Winter, Guang Hong could walk around in shorts and a camp shirt without freezing his ass off. This, however, also meant that the camp wasn’t exactly prepared for a sudden change in temperature.

 

The director of Camp Half-Blood was the god Dionysus, the wine god, and he was the one in charge of keeping the temperature stable. But with the Winter Solstice going on, when the gods had their all-important meeting, the god wasn’t at camp when the weather control decided to die on them. It was freezing cold.

 

“I can’t feel my toes anymore,” one Guang Hong’s half-sisters complained. “Didn’t they made the cabins winter proof?”

 

Curling up further into his blanket, Guang Hong doubted it. However, he didn’t dare to say that out loud, the children would throw a fit.

 

After shivering for a few more minutes, Guang Hong got himself out of bed, stepping into a pair of slippers. “I’ll check in on the Big House,” he said, wrapping his blanket tightly around himself. “Seeing if they know what to do.”

 

Even wearing a sweater, a pair of sweats and having a blanket wrapped around himself, it was freezing cold the moment he stepped outside. His cabin-mates hissed as the cold air wormed its way inside, chasing away the little warmth that had settled down.

 

It was clear as day he wasn’t the only one with this idea. Seung-gil, from the next-door Athena cabin, also had left the safety of his cabin, looking ready to murder. Opposite of him he saw Leo stumbled out of the Apollo cabin, glowing softly in the night and looking like he was able to die on the spot.

 

“It’s cold,” Leo groaned as the three men met up.  “I feel like dying.”

 

Seung-gil rolled his eyes but hugged the quilt draped over his shoulders closer nonetheless. “How do the children of Apollo function in the winter?”

 

Guang Hong chuckled. “They don’t,” he pointed out. “Look at Leo.”

 

Apparently, Guang Hong wasn’t far off as Leo just looked even more miserable, shoulders hunched and head hung in defeat.

 

A handful of cabin heads were already at the Big House the moment the three arrived, and soon, the rest had arrived, minus the empty cabins and the ones who were unoccupied during the off-season.

 

“So, what are we going to do about this?” Phichit asked, leaning on the worn table-tennis table with his elbows. Being one of the oldest campers, he easily took on the leading role. “I don’t think this is healthy.”

 

About a dozen campers eyed Leo, who nervously stood between Guang Hong and Seung-gil. “I don’t think we’ll freeze to death, but I can’t say we should sleep in these circumstances.”

 

A few campers nodded in agreement, mumbling about how cold it is.

 

“But how are we going to fix it?” Mila, head of Hecate cabin, asked. “We might can make one cabin weather proof, but we definitely can’t do that to twelve different cabins. We’re only with three right now.”

 

This was the moment that Guang Hong wished that Chiron hadn’t left for some important duties. The centaur surely would know what to do in such a situation. Since when was it smart to leave important decisions up to seventeen-year-old campers?

 

“It’s impossible to fit all campers in one cabin,” Seung-gil pointed out. “The cabins are too small, even the Hermes cabin, who is by far the largest, won’t be able to shelter more than a quarter of the campers.”

 

Slowly, almost awkwardly, Otabek raised his hand. “The forges,” he mumbled.

 

Seung-gil was muttering under his breath, probably calling himself stupid for not thinking of it. The forges were ideal, the fire was always going strong, and there was plenty floor-space once they would clean up.

 

“If cabin 9 doesn’t mind,” Phichit said, standing straighter than before. “We could move everyone to the forges for the night. The fires will keep it warm, and it will be a like one gigantic sleepover.”

 

Most people weren’t as thrilled as Phichit. The older campers probably would just crash the moment they had crawled inside their sleeping bag, but the younger campers probably would be buzzing with excitement, because it would be quite the large-scale sleep-over, especially for the campers who only had a few cabin-mates, like the Hecate and Nemesis cabin.

 

Otabek gave Phichit a curt nod. “I’ll send my campers to clean everything and then we’ll figure out the sleeping arrangements.”

 

Pretty much all the campers agreed, and the meeting was officially finished, though secretly, Guang Hong wanted it to go on longer. It was going to be a long night, a long night of trying to get the little ones to sleep, hoping that didn’t have to sleep next to some guy who moved excessively or some guy who hadn’t showered in days.

 

~*~

 

The Demeter cabin had been ecstatic with the news about the sleepover. Pillows and sleeping bags were collected, here and there his siblings brought along snacks, some stuffed animals and one of the older campers somehow had managed to get their hands on a couple of cans of red bull. He had to make sure they didn’t feed that to the younger ones.

 

Like expected, the forges were _large._ It was cosily warm, scoot laying at the foot of the fireplaces. A few cabin-heads were sorting out the sleeping arrangement, mixing up the different cabins and ages. It was almost like a buddy system, one older camper was stuck with two younger campers, preferably two they didn’t know very well. Hence why Guang Hong was stuck with a set of twins, they barely could be older than ten, from the Iris cabin. Thankfully, they were pretty tired and fell asleep as soon as they had settled down, zipping their sleeping bags together so they could sleep with each other.

 

Guang Hong oversaw the rest of the sleeping arrangement, dumping his most troublesome siblings with one of the more responsible campers. He also narrowly saved everyone from a disaster that was a set of best friends from the Hermes and Hecate cabin, who probably would have spent their entire night together to think up ways to prank the entire group of campers. Because, face it, it wasn’t often that they were all in the same space at the same time, even during breakfast, lunch or dinner that was impossible.

 

“I’ll be sleeping over there,” Seung-gil pointed to three empty sleeping bags in a far corner. Two kids, one Demeter and one Ares, were tugging his sweater tiredly.

 

“I’m somewhere in the middle,” Phichit gestured to a group of younger campers who were playing some card game- Guang Hong hoped it wasn’t Poker. “If I can get my bed back.”

 

Looking up, almost expectantly, Guang Hong waited for Leo to tell him where he was camping. With the noise that was going on, Guang Hong doubted he would get sleep anytime soon. Plus, being the head of his cabin, anyone with trouble would come to him so it would be nice if Leo were somewhat close-by.  After all, as the head of Apollo, he certainly wouldn’t be getting any sleep anytime soon. Because, without a doubt, Apollo was one of the… Busier gods. 

 

“Row behind you,” Leo said, gesturing to the empty sleeping bag diagonal from Guang Hong’s. “The kids picked the spot,” he added, almost defensively.

 

Grinning, Guang Hong pulled Leo along the masses of bodies, making sure he wasn’t stepping on any stray limbs. “Yours are already asleep?” he questioned as they arrived at the sleeping bags. Two boys, not siblings, were curled up in their sleeping bags, out cold.

 

“Yes, children of Hypnos,” Leo explained. It made a lot of sense, Hypnos was the god of sleep, so yeah, his children also slept a lot. “Easy bunch.”

 

Guang Hong hummed in understand, crawling in his own sleeping back, lying flat on his stomach so he could prop his head up, properly facing Leo. “Same here,” he said. “Children of Iris. Were out cold in no time.”

 

Noise buzzed around them, but Guang Hong paid little attention to it. He didn’t get many chances to be alone with Leo, it was rather difficult with both of them having duties as the head of their cabin, Leo is in charge of the campfire sing-along and Guang Hong occasionally having to help out in a sword-fighting class.

 

“So, how have you been doing?” Leo asked, also laying flat on his stomach and propped himself on his elbows. “Still happy?”

 

It wasn’t hard to be happy. Yeah, maybe he was cut off from the mortal world, but there wasn’t anything left for him. No friends, no family that wanted him. Everything he had was here.

 

“Of course, I mean, being a demigod wasn’t exactly in the planning, but it’s nice,” it was hard to keep the happiness out of his voice, and it showed.

 

Leo smiled softly, eyes filled with unreadable emotions. “It’s like having a family.”

 

That sounded about right. “Yeah,” he said, voice shaking with emotions. “Like the family I never had, the _friends_ , I never had. The rest is just a small price to pay.”

 

His father was by now just a distant memory, a small moment of happiness before his life of struggle had started. But more than two years ago, the struggle had slowly started to crumble, the fear of being different, the fear of forever being an outcast.

 

“Yeah…” Leo’s voice faltered, hesitation radiating of every inch of him.

 

“What’s wrong?” Guang Hong asked. “Is it your dad-”

 

Leo shook his head. “No, we broke up.”

 

Guang Hong smiled sympathetically. She had been the one, a girl from the Hebe cabin. They had managed to keep on going strong for almost a year. At first, it had hurt because Guang Hong liked Leo, romantically, but on the other hand, Leo still remained his friend and didn’t spend any less time with him, so it wasn’t too bad.

 

“What happened?” he couldn’t really figure out a reason why the two would break up, as far as he had been aware everything went well between the two of them. They were _the_ golden couple.

 

“I- it’s mainly my fault,” Leo stuttered, the flush on his cheek had nothing to do with the warmth from the fireplaces. “It didn’t go bad; it was just that my feelings weren’t genuine anymore. I didn’t like her romantically anymore. Actually, I think I never had, I-”

 

Guang Hong blinked in surprise, hardly believing what Leo was telling him. They had seemed so in love, and Leo was telling him that he never even was romantically interested in her. “Then why did you date her?”

 

Leo shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know for sure. She was pretty and nice, and we got along well. Also, I wanted to forget, I-” he breathed shallowly. “There was a person I liked, but I knew it was a fruitless love. What good would it do trying to pursue someone that isn't even interested in the gender you are? So, I wanted to forget, and entering a relationship felt like the right step but-”

 

“You can’t forget about them,” Guang Hong finished, knowing perfectly well how it felt. He felt the same towards Leo, he had no chance with Leo, though the gender wasn’t the issue. More just the lack of romantic interest. “You try, but they always sneak back into your thoughts.”

 

“Speaking of personal experience?” a gentle laugh rolled past Leo’s lips. “At least, it sounds like that.”

 

Smiling, though it probably looked more like a broken smile, Guang Hong rested his weight on one elbow and reached out to Leo with his other.

 

Leo seemed to be torn for a moment, before mirroring Guang Hong’s movements and placed his hand on top of Guang Hong’s.

 

“We just become bachelors and move in together,” Leo said.

 

Becoming bachelors together didn’t sound too bad, he at least had Leo in his life, even if it wasn’t in a romantic manner.

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

**April 2017**

 

It was too early. Guang Hong woke up slowly, eyes droopy, body warm, _too_ warm. It was like he was lying in a furnace, which hopefully wasn’t the case because he _definitely_ wasn’t heat proof. Stirring softly, Guang Hong opened his eyes. Yes, too early. The bedroom- now he remembers that he was crashing Woods’ room- was still pitch black, not a single ray of sunshine lighting up the space.

 

“Did I wake you up?” warm air tickled against the back of Guang Hong’s neck, causing him to shiver slightly. That explained the heat, he was spooning with Leo. As a child of Apollo, Leo had more natural body heat than most people, like a living furnace.

 

“Sort of,” Guang Hong whispered in response. He didn’t understand why Leo was even awake, his friend didn’t function during the night that well, plus it had been a long, exhausting day. “You’re ho- warm.”

 

Leo was also hot, not in the temperature sense, but he wasn’t going to tell his friend that. It would make things more awkward, as far as that was possible.

 

An apology left Leo’s lips a few seconds later. It didn’t help much, Guang Hong felt even warmer, and foremost sweatier than before. He wished that he had to spoon with someone else, Phichit, Woods’, heck, even Daniel would have been fine. Guang Hong was never the one to be scared away by platonic cuddling and spooning. It was just that this was barely platonic- or at least, Guang Hong didn’t want it to be platonic.

 

“Why are you awake?” Guang Hong questioned. It was weird talking to Leo like that, not being able to face each other, at least not without risking waking everybody up. The room was a truly tight fit.

 

To his relief, Leo moved around a bit and rested his chin on top of Guang Hong’s head instead of breathing against his neck. “Couldn’t sleep,” Leo admitted, voice uncharacteristically emotionless. “Don’t know why.”

 

Guang Hong felt slightly sick hearing Leo say that because he had a feeling Leo _knew_ why he couldn’t sleep. Was his friend that uncomfortable sleeping with him? They didn’t have this big bromance going on like some other guys, who basically were boyfriends without actually being gay, but spooning shouldn’t be this awkward, this uncomfortable. Heck, they had done it _before_.

 

“Are you really that uncomfortable?” Guang Hong hated how his voice trembled. “I mean, yes, spooning a guy probably is awkward, but spooning your best friend shouldn’t be an issue, should it? We’ve to know each other for so long and-” a sob swallowed the rest of his words. He hated how emotional he was over this, but the discomfort Leo had been showing the last two days hurt, a lot. Guang Hong would be satisfied with being Leo’s best friend. It would hurt, but he would get over it, but Leo being uncomfortable around him was terrible.

 

Leo seemed to have frozen on the spot, his breathing pattern irregular, his heart pounding loudly, loud enough for Guang Hong to feel it softly drum against his back.

 

“I’m not uncomfortable,” Leo said, voice trembling. He was lying, _again_.

 

Guang Hong sniffed, trying to will away his forming tears. “You’re lying,” he whispered, curling up into a ball, for once glad he wasn’t facing Leo.

 

“Okay, yes, I’m uncomfortable, but I’m not disgusted by you, I-” panic and fear were laced between the words. “I- the reason is- listen, please don’t-”

 

Then, like a massive fuck you, the fire alarm went off. In a matter of seconds, Phichit was up, scrambling out of sleeping bag and grabbing his dagger. Surprisingly, despite being all tangled up in each other, it didn’t take Guang Hong and Leo much longer to grab their weapons. It seemed that being a demigod _had_ its advantages, like quick thinking and acting.

 

“Not again,” Daniel groaned, casually sitting up as if this happened occasionally. There was no need for light, the Celestial bronze weapons glowed softly, lighting up the box-sized room.

 

“What do you mean, ‘not again’?” Phichit asked, voice thick with sleep.

 

Rubbing his eyes, Daniel shrugged. “They’re probably cooking up meth again,” the young teen was patting around his bed, trying to reach for his glasses. Probably the sole reason he hadn’t noticed the weapons.

 

Woods finally stirred awake, blinking once, twice before sniffing. Even in the dim light, Guang Hong saw the Satyr’s face grow panicky, which made him doubt that it was a few students who were cooking up math in the science lab.

 

“We’ve to go,” the Satyr said nervously. “And don’t put that away,” he gestured to Phichit’s dagger, which the son of Hermes was already putting away, hiding it from Daniel. “We’re going to need it.”

 

Daniel made some distress noises before eventually sighing in relief. “Yeah, we’ve to leave,” the presumingly demigod mumbled, pushing his glasses on his nose. “They’re going to count heads- if we aren’t there, we’ll be blamed to be involved. Though you should leave your friends here as-”

 

Guang Hong saw Daniel staring down from his top-bunk, eyes grew wide behind his glasses, jaw dropped in shock. “Is that a sword!” he screeched, almost hysterical.

 

“Ah, yes,” Guang Hong mumbled, resisting the urge to cover his weapon. “Long story, which Woods certainly is willing to tell you once we are safe.”

 

Daniel’s already pale face grew paler, the bronze glow helping little to counter that. “ _Safe?_ ”

 

There were a loud bang and a sound that sounded suspiciously like crumbling walls. They really had to leave. Well, they at least had one of the demigods already. It would also be nice if they would find Daniel’s sister- the boy probably would be heartbroken if he lost the last caring family member he had- but there was no guarantee. Life as a demigod wasn’t easy, and whatever monster had started its rampage might already have gotten to the other demigod before they even could start.

~*~

The good thing was that Daniel’s sister was still alive when they found her. Which was the only good news. First of all, the girl was injured, a nasty gash running along her right arm. Secondly, she was hysteric, running for her dear life, tears running over her clean-scrubbed rosy cheeks. Thirdly, the biggest issues of them all, the monster was a _Chimera_. You know, those lovely creatures with a head of a lion, a body of a goat and snake-headed tail, which was highly venomous. And, it could breathe fire, _joy_.

 

“I did not sign up for this!” Phichit shouted as he slammed his heat-proof shield down, crouching behind it and blocking the fire from the rest of the group.

 

Guang Hong, now using Leo’s bow and arrow, loosened an arrow at the Chimera, using the few seconds that the Chimera had let its guard down. Sadly enough, its tail smashed the arrow away, snapping it in two.

 

“Does it looks like I’m having a lot of fun?” Guang Hong loosened another arrow, keeping the Chimera at bay. It wasn’t much, but it gave Leo enough time to fix the older sibling’s injury. “Because I don’t feel like it!”

 

The Chimera belched another ball of fire at them, forcing Guang Hong to throw himself at the ground to avoid being roasted. Stupid Chimera’s with human intelligence- they surely had figured out that Guang Hong was firing the arrows at them.

 

Pushing himself up on hand and knees, Guang Hong crawled over to Phichit, bow lying forgotten on the ground. “I think fighting it head-on will work better,” Guang Hong mumbled, undoing the strap of the quiver. He had no use of it in close-range combat _and_ , if Leo finished fixing Grace, the sister, he could provide long-range offence.

 

Phichit hummed in agreement, fingers nervously clutching the strap of the shield. With Guang Hong stopping the long-range offence, the Chimera surely would advance upon them. They hadn’t much time to really think up a strategy. “I buy time, and you just do your uncharacteristic Demeter thing and kick its ass?”

 

Peeking over the shield, Guang Hong saw the monster approaching, like a predator approaching its prey. “See you on the flip side?”

 

“As long as it isn’t Elysium, then yes,” Phichit chuckled nervously. “See you on the flip side.”

 

Guang Hong saw Phichit hurriedly digging through his bag, retrieving a bottle of Greek Fire. He truly wondered what kind of deal Phichit had made with the Hephaestus children, seeing he both had a heatproof shield _and_ a stack of Greek Fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world.

 

“Throw it in its mouth, and that will do- the very first Chimera died of suffocation, this probably will do the trick,” Phichit gently tossed the bottle to him. “Though stabbing it would should also work.”

 

Pocketing the small bottle, Guang Hong waited for Phichit to give the signal to charge.

 

“Hey, ugly!” Phichit got up, taking the shield along with him. “I’m no Cyclops, but your heat doesn’t bother me,” the bronze of the shield shimmered in the emergency lighting, probably blinding the creature for a brief moment.

 

That was his cue, probably. Thanking the gods for the first time for his small body, Guang Hong darted towards the Chimera, sword at the ready in matters of seconds.

 

Of course, the Chimera noticed him, he wasn’t _invisible_ , but Phichit’s distraction maneuver bought him enough time though, enough time to dodge the snake-headed tail that was swung his way. With one, swift sweep Guang Hong managed to slice off the tail. Well, that was the poisonous part, now the rest.

 

The Chimera roared furiously, lashing out at Guang Hong. The issue of his weapon was that it definitely wasn’t meant for defence. He could deflect weapons as long as they weren’t too heavy, but he couldn’t deflect a superhuman strength charge paw. With a scary amount of easy, Guang Hong was thrown down the other end of the hallway, his rapier clattering against the stone floor. That was going to bruise- and maybe a concussion.

 

“Guang Hong!” someone shouted, panic ripping through their voice.

 

Grunting in pain, Guang Hong pushed himself back up, grabbing his sword along the way. “I’m alive!” he shouted back, wincing as he took a step. Great, sprained ankle. Hopefully, Leo could use some of his Apollo magic on him because otherwise, the trip home would be very difficult and painful.

 

The Chimera roared in frustration, yet it wasn’t facing Guang Hong. It seemed that someone else had provoked it. Guang Hong watched the monster move around, arrows flying past it, some of them scattering into the end of the hallway Guang Hong was standing in. _Leo_.

 

Putting away his sword, Guang Hong stumbled towards the Chimera, hand digging through his pocket to find the bottle of Greek Fire. When his fingers touched the cheap-feeling material, Guang Hong grinned. For once, it would be useful that it had human-like intelligence.

 

“Hey, oversized house cat!” Guang Hong yelled, taunting at the creature.

 

It worked. The Chimera turned around, its eyes flaming with anger, lips curled up in a snarl. If now it could open his mouth, it would be nice.

 

It was almost like Leo could read his thought. The beast roared in pain as Leo probably had burrowed an arrow right in its body. That was what happened when you suddenly lost your only mean of defence, you simply couldn’t use your extra limb to ward off attacks from behind.

 

Tightening his grip on the bottle with Greek Fire, Guang Hong hurled it at the Chimera’s open mouth. It disappeared into the creature’s mouth. For a few seconds, nothing happened, before flames seemingly came out of nowhere, engulfing the Chimera’s body. A pained roar followed before it dissolved into dust, send right down to Tartarus.

 

Relieved, Guang Hong slumped to the ground. His ankle was throbbing, but nothing some Apollo magic or Ambrosia, food of the gods, couldn’t fix.

 

After a bit, finally one of his friends came to collect him. Using the faint light that came from his rapier Guang Hong could make out Leo. Though, fairly enough, Guang Hong dared to believe he could find Leo if he were blind, as long as he could touch him, feel his face.

 

“You’re okay?” Leo asked as he kneeled down next to Guang Hong. “You look a bit pale.”

 

Out of seemingly nowhere, Leo retrieved a small flashlight, probably used for medical reasons.

 

“Did you hit your head?”

 

Guang Hong shrugged. Maybe? He knew his ankle did hurt like crazy, and that his head throbbed lightly.

 

“Okay, I’m going to check for a concussion, please co-operate.”

 

After a few tests, Leo let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, probably no concussion. That’s good. Now, any major complains?”

 

“Ankle.”

 

Guang Hong winced slightly as Leo removed his shoe and sock, calloused fingers gently running over the tender skin.

 

“Sprained,” Leo concluded. “I’ll wrap it. As we’re low on Ambrosia, something Phichit _did_ forget to pack, I think I’ll heal it myself.”

 

Guang Hong just nodded, letting Leo do his thing. It wasn’t like this would be the first time Leo would patch him up. Hades, Leo patched him up even before either of them knew they were demigods.

 

**November 2014**

 

Guang Hong winced as his roommate prodded his bruise gently. “They got you bad,” Leo mused, digging up the medical kit they might have stolen from the infirmary. “What did you do this time.”

 

Moping, Guang Hong just folded his arms and let Leo patch him up. He wasn’t in the mood to visit the nurse, _again_. They surely would kick him out of school for fighting. “I just said they had to pick someone from their own size, which is reasonable. They were _seniors_ , big, tall, bulky. They were harassing one of the girls.”

 

“Your hero-complex is going to get you killed some day,” Leo pointed out, humming under his breath as he moved on to another bruise. At least someone was enjoying himself.

 

“I do not have a hero-complex,” Guang Hong denied. “It seems that I attract trouble.”

 

Leo hummed in agreement, rubbing soothing circles against his skin as he applied a salve that supposed to stop the swelling. It seemed that the only person who genuinely liked Guang Hong was his roommate.

 

Finishing the wrapping, Leo gently patted Guang Hong’s knee. “All done,” Leo announced. “You know your payment.”

 

Rolling his eyes, Guang Hong hopped off the bed and dug through his bag till he found his wrapped, slightly squashed, leftovers from homeroom class.

 

“I know that school food isn’t good,” it was downright terrible. “But your addiction to my cooking is ridiculous. It’s almost like you look _forward_ to my homeroom classes.”

 

Leo hid his guilt-ridden face between his hair, a shy smile on his face. “Your food is good- okay,” he muttered, happily accepting the wrapped piece of cake. “So good,” to demonstrate his point, Leo tore off the plastic wrapping and took a large bite of the cake.

 

“I could marry this cake,” he moaned, tears of joy shimmering in his eyes.

 

It was official, his roommate was downright ridiculous. It was just cake, not a part of paradise or something like that. But Guang Hong wasn’t complaining, Leo was the best thing that happened to him since his father’s passing eight years ago.

 

Wincing at his aching muscles, Guang Hong climbed up to his bunk. It would be weekend tomorrow, which meant that homework could wait.

 

“So, what are your plans for this weekend?” Leo asked, flopping down on the bottom bunk, causing the whole construction to shake. “The same as usual?”

 

“Yup,” Guang Hong said, popping the ‘p’. “Crying over our dyslexia while we try to figure out literature,” Guang Hong said, trying to sound as optimistic as possible. He did a poor job.

 

Leo chuckled and kicked one of the bedposts, making the whole bunk shake. “Why am I friends with you again?”

 

“Because I’m your roommate _and_ I safe you food,” Guang Hong summed up, not particularly bothered by Leo’s question.

 

“Seems fair,” Leo said in agreement. “You save me decent food, and I patch you up when you get yourself in trouble.”

 

**April 2017**

 

He should have realised that whenever Leo fixed him up during those two months at boarding school, his injuries healed much faster than usual. Later, he had realised that Leo’s humming had been working as a toned down hymn, the magical singing in Greek the Apollo campers did to heal people.

 

On the other hand, being a son of Demeter, it was logical that he was a skilled cook, because, apparently, the children of Demeter were skilled in cooking. But he never had added those facts together when he was trying to figure out his godly mother, so he had no right to criticise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I think the editing is a tad slopping- I edited when I was tired and right now I'm hit with the common cold... just let me die already. Anyway, college will start tomorrow, so I can't guarantee the weekly update of this thing, but I'll try. (Thank heavens for pre-writing stuff- that makes things so much easier)
> 
> Anyway, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated per usual! I mean, I mainly write this project because I enjoy it- because I'm a nerd- but feedback is appreciated per usual.


	4. Chapter 4

**April 2017**

He couldn’t confess. He almost had done it back in the dorm room, feeling terrible for making Guang Hong sad, but the alarm had cut him off. Now everything was over, Leo couldn’t bring himself to try again. He cared too much. If he confessed to Guang Hong that he had a crush on him, it would make things awkward, and that was the last thing Leo wanted. Making things awkward between them. Because he didn’t see another possible outcome. It would be very, _very_ awkward to have your best friend crushing on you, especially if you were straight like Guang Hong and they didn’t have a bromance like Emil and JJ, who had no idea which no issue throwing _love you_ _’s_ to each other while JJ clearly had a girlfriend.

 

Wallowing in self-pity, Leo hugged his knees close to his chest, watching as Grace, Daniel’s sister, was flirting with Guang Hong. The strawberry blonde had said she was confused- that she didn’t grasp the concept of the whole demigod business. Leo thought it was just an opportunity to flirt with Guang Hong, though he hardly could blame her. Guang Hong was an exceptional brand of precious, kind and loving.

 

The younger of the two siblings sat down next to Leo, probably not very interested in Phichit and Woods’ discussion of how they would get back home safely.

 

“Angry that my sister is flirting with your boyfriend?”

 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Leo said, not even bothering to hide his disappointment. “He’s straight anyway so I should have no reason to mope- I should confess already and move on.”

 

He wasn’t sure why he told this to a thirteen-year-old. On the other hand, Daniel would at least look at it with a fresh set of eyes, he didn’t know either Guang Hong or Leo, not what they had been through, not how long they know each other.

 

Daniel let out a strangled noise. “Wait, you think he’s _straight_?”

 

“Yes?” Guang Hong never had told him that he wasn’t, and sadly enough, his own so-called ‘Gaydar’ was no-existing.

 

“Well… I don’t know him too well,” Daniel said, and Leo basically could _hear_ the mischief in his voice. “But he’s the very first guy that isn’t swooning over my sister when she flirts.”

 

Leo blinked in surprise, putting all his attention back to the two demigods. Surprisingly, Daniel was _right_. Leo noticed the Aphrodite charm immediately, and it was turned up full force. Yet, Guang Hong just seemed uncomfortable, fidgeting around, running his hand through his messy hair. It was that Leo was sitting at a safe distance from the girl because he even felt the pull, thought she looked ridiculously lovely.

 

“That’s weird…” Leo mumbled, staring at a random spot in the distance. “I rarely have seen people unaffected by the so-called Aphrodite charm all of Aphrodite’ children have. Usually, the ones that are unaffected by it are either hopelessly in love with someone else or simply aren’t interested in the sex- like, one of my friends is aromatic, which was why when one of the Aphrodite girls flirted with him, her charm full force, he just blinked and walked away.”

 

But, that wouldn’t make sense. Guang Hong wasn’t hopelessly in love with someone, or at least not enough. The level of love had to deeply roots between the two of them, a relationship, a romantic one. Even back when Leo was in a relationship with a girl from the Hebe cabin, he still felt the Aphrodite charm from her children, gender didn’t even matter. So, that would mean that Guang Hong wasn't interested in women.

 

“He’s _gay?_ ”

 

Daniel chuckled, seemingly finding the whole situation joyful. “I don’t know for sure, but I won’t be surprised if he is. After all,” Leo looked down at Daniel, noticing the excited shimmering in his eyes, even though the glasses. “He likes you a lot, I can tell you that much. The relationship between you two is built on close friendship and hesitation, a two-sided uncertainty. You thought he was straight and, if I’m not mistaken, he fears you don’t like him romantically because you act distant.”

 

“I acted distant because I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable, I-”

 

This probably was just one, big, mistake. Guang Hong probably wasn’t gay; he just was good at resisting the Aphrodite charm. After all, they had been going to camp for a solid two years, more often than not stuck with children of Aphrodite. They loved to flirt with others, most of it was playful, barely harmless, but you did get used to it.

 

To his surprise, Daniel didn’t even acknowledge that Leo said anything, that Leo didn’t finish his statement. The kid either was bored with the conversation _or_ was more mature than most thirteen-year-olds were. That wouldn’t be surprising either, that’s what being a demigod did with you. You matured a lot faster than the rest of your peers because fighting for your life forced you to mature, to grow up faster and let your ‘happy and bright’ childhood behind.

 

Letting his mind wander, Leo once again put his focus on Guang Hong and Grace. Surprisingly, the girl’s Aphrodite charm had almost faded, a disappointed smile on her face. Guang Hong looked awkward, running his fingers through his hair. Maybe he had rejected her advances.

 

“You should confess,” Daniel whispered, Leo almost not catching his words. “Rip off the Band-Aid, get over it. You know each other long, at least that’s my guess,” Leo nodded in response. “That means that if he would have feelings for you, he should have figured out by now. You both are old enough to figure that stuff out yourself and should not get advice from a thirteen-year-old.”

 

Leo chuckled and ruffled the boy’s hair, earning him loud, protesting, noises. “You would fit right in with the Aphrodite kids,” he said.

 

“I hope so,” Daniel grumbled, trying to fix his hair. “Unless they’re all like my sister, then I want another mother.”

 

“Well…” Leo drew out the word, grinning slightly. “Let’s hope that you _actually_ have a mum. I have two dads, apparently.”

 

It took Daniel a bit to let the information sink in. “Can I seriously have two dads?”

 

“I think it’s almost exclusive to Apollo,” Leo pointed out. “But it’s possible. It was a big shock for me when I was claimed by Apollo after thinking I had a mom for fifteen years.”

 

“You’re a son of Apollo? In, like, the _sun_ god?” Daniel questioned, disbelief waved between the words.

 

Leo nodded.

 

Daniel hesitated for a brief moment, probably considering whenever it was smart to talk or not. “I would have expected you to be a lot… sunnier.”

 

That was new. Leo was unable to hold back a laugh, causing Daniel to grow rather flustered in the face.

 

“When my dad is Apollo it doesn’t mean I have to be sunny,” he pointed out, a bright smile on his lips. Well, at least his mood improved. “After all, Guang Hong is a son of Demeter, and he isn’t nature obsessed, and Phichit is a son of Hermes yet-”

 

Oh, wait. Phichit was kind of stereotypical child of Hermes. Thievery, insane sense of direction, somewhat athletic. Okay, not fully stereotypical, Phichit was lazy, he would have trouble outrunning a mob of angry demigods, while usually, children of Hermes were the fastest runners next to the Nike children.

 

Daniel stared up at him in awe, eyes alive with excitement. “You’re glowing,” he said. “Actually glowing, not the metaphorical, romantic stuff.”

 

“My dad is the sun god, glowing is apparently… our thing?” Leo tried to wave the comment off, hoping that he wasn’t blushing too crazy. He wasn’t used to people admiring him, he wasn’t a very interesting Apollo kid. He wasn’t much of a fighter nor a healer, he mainly was that music kid.

 

“Have you ever met your dad?” Daniel asked curiously. “If so, what’s he like?”

 

Leo never really had met his dad. He wasn’t going to camp for really long, especially compared to some kids that started camp at the ripe age of eight. But, the stories weren’t… Overly promising. Apollo wasn’t a bad god, not rude or anything, but he was… Egoistically? No, narcissistic. He was very fond of himself. But, at least it was better than being a son of Ares- too much expectations or the son of one of the big three. Being a son of Poseidon, Zeus or Hades sounded cool, and all, and they were very powerful, but they also were the ones who attracted the most monsters. A child of Poseidon could never really live peaceful in the mortal world.

 

“No, actually, I don’t think I ever have met a god before aside from Dionysus, the wine god, and he runs camp as punishment.”

 

Daniel’s eyes grew bright with interest and Leo knew he was stuck with explaining the entire story. They barely had many any progress today, they still were in Pittsburgh and by the looks of it, they wouldn’t make it to camp before day three had arrived of their trip. Joy.

 

~*~

 

Guang Hong was a very patient person, especially to younger camper and demigods who were still unfamiliar with it all. But right now, Grace was getting on his nerves. The girl kept on asking the same questions, explaining she didn’t understand it, didn’t understand how the gods even existed and how they all were related. Like, wasn’t it one heap of incest? While the answer was yes, it was incest, things in the Greek mythology were… Complicated to say the least.

 

As the girl notched up her Aphrodite charm another level, Guang Hong internally groaned. The girl was clinging to his arm, batting her eyelashes at him. He had seen it before, but most stopped after a minute or so, realising that their charm wasn’t affecting Guang Hong. Grace was still standing strong after fifteen minutes.

 

“Grace, listen,” Guang Hong said tiredly, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m gay.”

 

The girl looked shocked, staring at him with big, blue eyes and a level of faked innocence. “What do you mean? I mean, great for you but, why share that with me?”

 

Rolling his eyes, he couldn’t believe this girl. “Because you’re flirting with me and it’s uncomfortable. I understand that guys usually throw themselves at you, thank your mother for that, but I’m not interested.”

 

The girls face flustered red in shame and embarrassment. “Oh…” Grace’s lips trembled slightly. Guang Hong hoped she wasn’t going to throw a hissy fit. “Why are the cool guys unavailable? I mean, you’re cute, nice and pretty bad-ass, and the other guy is obviously in love with someone, so he’s off limits,” Grace gestured to Leo, who was talking to her brother. “Though the other guy is still available, though I prefer brunets.”

 

Leo was in love. It wasn’t surprising to have a daughter of Aphrodite pointing that out, they were surprisingly good at reading those things. But who did Leo love? The girl from the Hebe cabin? Or maybe a guy had caught his attention. Seung-gil was gay, and Leo got along with him decently.

 

“Love isn’t everything; you know?” Guang Hong pointed out. “Plus, there are plenty guys at camp that might find you interesting. There aren’t that many non-heterosexual people at camp and at least half of the people come from the Apollo cabin.”

 

“Apollo?” Grace parroted.

 

“The sun god, Leo’s dad,” he gestured to Leo.

 

Grace whistled appreciatively. “Are all the Apollo kids as handsome as he?”

 

Guang Hong hated how easily his face grew an angry shade of red when he got flustered. With the feeling as if his cheeks were on fire, he offered Grace a painful smile. “It depends on taste, really,” he said weakly. “But I guess that they’re pretty blessed on the looks department.”

 

“Oh,” Grace mumbled before her face lit up, a Cheshire smile on her lips. “Oh. You think Leo is hot.”

 

Sadly enough, Guang Hong probably just grew redder in the face, staring at Grace in terror and fear.

 

She squealed, loudly. “You like him. That’s so cute…” the girl hesitated. “Wait… Leo loves someone, romantically. Oh, poor soul,” she offered him a pitiful look.

 

A forced smile graced his lips. “Don’t worry,” he mumbled, patting the girl on a shoulder. “I’m used to it. It’s not worth ruining our friendship over the fact that I like him and he doesn’t like me.”

 

 

**August 2016**

“I thought you were the wise one.”

 

Guang Hong laughed quietly and swatted Leo’s arm as he hauled himself on the roof of the Zeus cabin. There hadn’t been children of Zeus in years, so the cabin was unoccupied. That also made it a good place to hide after curfew, as nobody would bother to check the _roof_ of an unoccupied cabin.

 

“I’m a son of Demeter,” Guang Hong pointed out as he hauled Leo up the roof. “Not Athena. I never have been wise.”

 

The smile on Leo’s face was worth the mild self-decapitating. It wasn’t like he was actually smart. Guang Hong was an okay student, always scored enough to pass but that was it. He didn’t have the brains of an Athena kid, and honestly, he didn’t want them. There was a lot of pressure on them, especially after Yuuri, a son of Athena, was a big key to the victory of the war _years_ ago. They were expected to be smart, clever and have quick wits. It was a lot more pressure than being a son of Demeter and help out the strawberry production, which basically was the camps their main source of money.

 

“Let me reword that,” Leo plopped down next to him. “You’re crazy.”

 

Guang Hong shrugged. “I’ve learnt from the best- with you being my best friend and all.”

 

Leo faked an offended look and gently punched Guang Hong’s arm, before leaning against him slightly. “Yeah, okay,” he admitted. “I can’t really certify all my actions.”

 

“You stole a first aid kid from the infirmary back in boarding school.”

 

A flush darkened Leo’s cheeks significantly, enough to be noticeable in the moonlit darkness.

 

“I had a valid reason,” Leo mumbled. “You,” he accusingly pinched Guang Hong’s thigh. “Where the one that kept on being beaten up.”

 

Rolling his head, Guang Hong let his head fall against Leo’s shoulder. “Someone had to play the stupid superhero- turned out that I never was cut for the job.”

 

He wasn’t a superhero, not even close to it. Demigods like Victor and Yuuri were the superheroes, the ones who saved the world at least once. The most heroic thing Guang Hong probably had done was helping one of the younger campers out of a tree after a game of Capture the Flag.

 

“You were managing perfectly fine I suppose,” Leo let his voice falter a little, knowing perfectly well that it got Guang Hong curious. “But I mean, if you’re a hero, I would be your side-kick. I mean, as a musician, being a side-kick is the most I can do, like being a bard in a video game.”

 

“And if you actually have played video games in the past, you know how important the support is,” Guang Hong retorted, pinching the exposed skin of Leo’s inner thigh. “Don’t start to down-talk yourself, that’s my job.”

 

It was nice having this moment alone with Leo. The summer was crazy hectic, there were more campers than ever, and every somewhat responsible camper was running their asses off getting everything organised. This left little room for _fun_ , not to mention spending time with your friends and talking. It didn’t help either that, when Guang Hong and Leo’s schedules met up, nearly always something came in between.

 

Even today it seemed that somehow, the gods managed to mess up his alone-time with Leo. Guang Hong had managed to trade his sword-training classes with one of the Ares campers. Guang Hong would do the one after the lunch, and the Ares camper would do the one just before lunch. Easy peachy. This gave him a solid hour to spend with Leo, who would be off duties as the Apollo children would being doing archery, something that Leo didn’t teach and didn’t seemed necessary to accompany, as another child of Apollo would be the one teaching.

 

But after finishing _his_ last class before lunch, the Ares guy didn’t show up, and Guang Hong definitely couldn’t leave a group of hyperactive ten-year-olds on their own. It would be disastrous. Later, it turned out that one of the Aphrodite campers had decided that _today_ had to be the day to confess their feelings for the Ares camper. It had ended up pretty… Steamy if he had to believe the gossip _and_ the money that was exchanged between campers. It seemed that those two were bound to happen and it was just a matter of time- the timing was just terrible.

 

“Why are we here anyway?” Leo asked after a while of doing nothing but stare at the starry sky- which was pretty tonight. “I mean; it isn’t for you to break the rules just to talk with me- we see each other daily.”

 

Ignoring the flush that was brightening his cheeks, Guang Hong slipped the bag off his shoulder, rummaging through it blindly while he kept up staring at the distant starry sky. “Your birthday- it’s today,” he said quietly, feeling Leo freeze next to him. With all the chaos going around, Guang Hong wasn’t surprised that Leo had forgotten about his own birthday, and seemingly the rest of the camp.

 

“I- seriously? It felt like the fourth of July was last week,” Leo’s voice was shaking with embarrassment. “I forgot my own birthday.”

 

Laughing softly, not wanting to attract attention to them as they still were breaking the rules, Guang Hong sympathetically patted Leo’s knee with his unoccupied hand. “Well, that’s why you keep me around,” he said, his laughter making the words vibrate a little.

 

“What would I do without you?” Leo muttered, looking ready to bury his head in the sand.

 

“Forget your own birthday?” Guang Hong suggested in a teasing manner.

 

Guang Hong let Leo dwell on his own ‘stupidity’ for a bit longer- it was so busy that things like birthdays were easily forgotten, heck, Guang Hong had nearly forgotten Leo’s birthday himself if he hadn’t been flipping through his notebook and coming across Leo’s birthday at one of the entries.

 

Finally having a proper hold on the present, Guang Hong hurriedly placed the carefully wrapped present on Leo’s lap.

 

“It isn’t much,” he hurriedly added. “I’m _horrible_ with presents, you know that, but…”

 

Slowly, Leo unwrapped the present, frowning at the small device lying in his lap. “An iPod… Nano?” he questioned, inspecting the small device. “Aren’t we even allowed to have these? I’m pretty sure that it still sends out signals to monsters.”

 

“Not if it’s modified,” Guang Hong pointed out. “I got some people from the Hephaestus cabin working on it- hence why it’s just an iPod and not some fancy phone that all the mortals have. It plays music though- and the song-collection is pretty endless.”

 

A nostalgic smile crept on Leo’s lips as he powered the device, watching as the screen came to life with bright colours in the dark night.

 

“I mean, you’re a son of Apollo and a music _nerd_ , so I guessed it fitted,” Guang Hong explained, though it wasn’t necessary. He knew Leo well enough, and Leo knew him well enough, they knew things about each other that maybe themselves didn’t even know.

 

“It’s sweet,” Leo mumbled, voice shaking with emotions Guang Hong couldn’t pinpoint. Happiness? Fondness? Nerves? “You’re seriously the best friend I could ask for- how again did we become friends?”

 

Guang Hong let out a chuckle as Leo browsed through the collection of music. “Sharing a room for two months and crying over mutual dyslexia.”

 

A soft, melodious laughter filled up the quiet summer night. Leo had stopped browsing through the songs, eyes bright with recognition.

 

“It feels like barely a day has passed since we were roommates,” Leo commented. “It seemed we haven’t changed that much, my dyslexia is still an ass as I can’t half of these titles, but this one is familiar.”

 

Without an explanation, Leo handed Guang Hong the left earbud and hit play. The familiar sound of a cheesy, sixties song hit Guang Hong look a wave of nostalgic. He hadn’t even realised he had put this song on the list- he wasn’t even sure if _Leo_ liked this kind of music. It was his- his cheesy, romantic music.

 

“I have such a horrendous music taste,” Guang Hong complained as Elvis Presley was whispering sweet promises in his ear. “I don’t understand how you can stand me.”

 

Guang Hong was convinced Leo’s smile could light up the entire camp. “Because your music taste isn’t horrendous- just _old_. But it’s sweet- you’re truly a hopeless romantic. Sure you aren’t a son of Aphrodite?”

 

“Nah, I doubt that my music taste has anything to do with being a son of love,” Guang Hong said. “Plus I doubt she would approve my love for Billy Joel.”

 

Leo knew what he was talking about, yet he still played along. “He had some romantic music, Uptown Girl, The Longest Time.”

 

“Yeah, but you know what my _favourite_ is.”

 

Rolling his eyes in faked disappointment, Leo gently swatted his leg. “I still don’t understand how you know all the words to _We Didn_ _’t Start the Fire_. The Apollo cabin is still worshipping you for accepting the sing-along challenge and _nailing_ the lyrics. After all, none of us was even alive when this was popular.”

 

Guang Hong blamed his father for his music taste- though it’s always easier to blame someone else.

 

“So, next year, you’ll turn eighteen,” Guang Hong said slowly, humming along to the faint music that came from the earbud. “Going to college after next summer?”

 

It was a stupid fear- but it was there. Guang Hong wouldn’t turn eighteen for another year-and-a-half or-so, which meant that certainly, he couldn’t go to college at the same time as Leo. It would be lonely without Leo, and they surely would grow apart. After all, it was hard to maintain a long-distance friendship, especially if the only means of communication were Iris messages, sort-of Skype conversations broadcasted by the rainbow goddess Iris. It was hella expensive.

 

To his surprise, Leo just shook his head. “Nah- I’ll wait a year so we can go together,” he said as if it was the most normal thing to say. “I mean, we can be roommates again _and_ have each other’s back if some monsters decide to show up.”

 

Guang Hong felt his heart ache with happiness. Sometimes, he wondered if Leo still cared about him- after all, Leo was sometimes somewhat distant, hesitant. As if he wanted to do one thing, but ended up deciding against it. But considering the guy was willing to build his entire college life around him, willing to stick around camp for another year just to share the experience with Guang Hong- it must mean something.

 

“I like the sound of that,” Guang Hong admitted. “Though I still stand by the fact that you should just go if you want to.”

 

For a brief moment, Leo’s fingers brushed against the top of his hands, but it was a fleeting moment, one that barely lasted a second before Leo just placed it on his knees. “Don’t worry- I don’t mind. Camp is nice, plus it gives me some more time to actually catch up with my studies.”

 

“It’s a deal then,” Guang Hong grinned. “I hope you won’t regret it though.”

 

“I don’t regret anything involving you.”

 

**April 2017**

In hindsight, he should have realised that usually, friends didn’t make that kind of promises, especially if one of them were still in a relationship. On the other hand, about half-a-year later, they promised each other that they would stay bachelors and move in together. Maybe the two of them were just oblivious towards the other’s their feelings- as they probably were denser than your typical Hypnos child, who spend most of their time sleeping.

 

~*~

 

Without a doubt, there hung an awkward air around the two of them. They had managed to catch a bus to New York later in the afternoon, which meant they probably would arrive late into the night, maybe even early morning. _If_ they didn’t run into any monsters. They only encountering two different monsters, which wasn’t too bad. Though he could have lived without the Chimera. His ankle was still sore- it didn’t hurt anymore- but it kept on annoying him- enough to make it hard to sleep. Though, to be honest, his neighbour alone made it hard to sleep.

 

Phichit and Woods we seated next to each other, out cold. The Satyr made small, bleating noises. Thankfully nobody really bothered with it- after all, there were people whose snores sounded like pig-noises. Behind the sleeping demigod and Satyr were the two siblings, who were, just like the other two, out cold. It wasn’t surprising, they had gone through an eventful day and little sleep last night due to the well-timed Chimera attack. This left him seated with Leo, and it was _awkward_.

 

“I own you an explanation,” Leo said out of seemingly nowhere, surprising Guang Hong a little. He had expected Leo to all forget all about the ‘sleeping’ incident, he probably would have done the same if he had been in Leo’s shoes.

 

“You kind of do,” Guang Hong mumbled, voice shaking slightly. “But don’t if you really don’t want to- I don’t want to force you to say anything you don’t want to say.”

 

This would be the perfect opportunity for Leo to back out, being grateful for Guang Hong’s kindness. Yet, he didn’t.

 

“It’s both you making me uncomfortable and at the same time, you don’t, I-” Leo buried his face in his hands, and Guang Hong almost could imagine him blush. “When you laid there in my arms, I wanted to do nothing more than bury my face in your hair, nuzzling it- did you know that your hair is very soft? Also, I wanted to kiss your exposed neck, hold your hand, tangled our legs together, keep you warm and safe in my arms. But these are feelings friends shouldn’t have- so I tried to hold back, distance myself. But that also meant no sleeping, because my body naturally gravitates to you. Also, sadly enough, this isn’t the first time I wanted to be more than friends, but it’s a bit hard to be more than friends if, well…”

 

Leo spread his fingers, shyly glancing at Guang Hong. Even in the terrible lighting the bus offered, Guang Hong saw the fear, the shame. “You’re straight, aren’t you? Daniel is convinced you aren’t- but I should have known if you weren’t. We’ve been best friends for over two years, I should have noticed it if you weren’t straight.”

 

Guang Hong wasn’t sure what to feel- or how to react for that matter. Leo just confessed him that he _romantically_ liked Guang Hong, but distanced himself for a reason. The reason being that he thought Guang Hong was _straight_. The sad part was that, fairly enough, Guang Hong had never told Leo he was gay, he just assumed Leo had figured out. After all, he never had any interest in women _and_ actively gossiped with Leo over the handsome men at camp. It should have been pretty obvious, at least, he assumed it had been.

 

“I hate myself,” Guang Hong said, feeling his voice tremble and his heart beating uncomfortably- almost painfully. Could you die from emotions? “I thought you _knew_.”

 

“Knew what?” Leo cocked his head almost innocently, but the hope was hard to miss.

 

“I’m gay,” Guang Hong blurted out. “And I like you too- romantically. I thought you just weren’t interested.”

 

Leo dropped his hands completely, eyes big with shock stared right back at him. “You’re actually _gay_?” he asked in disbelief, voice trembling, uncontrolled. That was new- Leo usually was a lot better composed than this.

 

“Yes- I thought it was pretty obvious,” Guang Hong mumbled. “But I guess it wasn’t.”

 

Ducking his head, Leo eyes him through dark eyelashes, eyes dancing with nerves and teeth nibbling his bottom lip. “How long…” Leo hesitated. “How long did you know?”

 

There were plenty of answers to that question- and Guang Hong knew this would be the perfect opportunity to be cheeky. But he didn’t dare- as this was also the opportunity to get everything sorted out and maybe start the relationship with Leo had been longing for.

 

“Gay? I had a gist when I was in 8th grade, but I knew for sure during my freshman year because, well…” he already had confessed, so this shouldn’t be so nerve-wracking, but it was. “I started to develop a crush on a guy, _you_ specifically. I know now that the feelings are mutual but… How long? After the daughter of Hebe?”

 

Leo shook his head. “Before- remember that I said I liked someone but tried to forget about them because they never would be interested in because of their sexuality?”

 

Nodding slowly, Guang Hong had a faint idea where this was going. For how long had Leo been crushing on him- how long could they have been a thing?

 

“Well, that person was you,” Leo admitted. “Because I, stupidly enough, just assumed you were straight and all- I just should have asked.”

 

He should have, but it isn’t like Guang Hong was the prime example of proper communication. If that had been the case, he would have just confessed and not nearly breaking down because he thought Leo no longer liked him as a person, romance aside, and basically had forced a confession out of Leo.

 

“That makes the two of us- I just always thought you weren't interested. Any attempts at flirting were… Awkward- I feared you were uncomfortable, but sometimes it’s hard to keep my feelings at bay- not to shamelessly say things, do things, I-” losing any ounce of courage that had rushed through his veins, Guang Hong stared down at his lap.

 

Leo chuckled softly, but it wasn’t mean-spirited. It was nervous, slightly guilty. “I always interpreted it like bromance, like the relationship between Emil and JJ. So, I didn’t dare to flirt back in case things would be too awkward- after all, what if I suddenly said ‘I love you too’ back in response? Would it be too awkward? After all, you _know_ that I’m bisexual.”

 

Guang Hong felt more at ease- at least Leo had been deliberately avoiding flirting back in fear of unrequited love, which fairly enough, was the same thing he had been dealing with. “If you had responded with ‘I love you too’, I would have been a blushing, stuttering mess and things would have gotten awkward between us, because, me being a self-deprecating person, would have assumed that it was just in a friendly manner and would have hated myself for reacting like that, so I would certainly avoid you.”

 

What next? By now, they both had figured out that it was one miscommunication. Guang Hong thought Leo had been somewhat distant because he wasn’t interested, in return, Leo tried to act distant because he didn’t want to come off as too flirty, as he assumed Guang Hong was straight. Honestly, all this could have been avoided if Guang Hong properly had come out at Leo, though on the other hand, rather late than never.

 

“So…” Leo said hesitantly. “Does this mean we’ve been low-key flirting with each other all the time- I mean, Daniel,” he gestured to the younger sibling. “Picked up on it pretty fast, and Phichit didn’t really seem surprised by the accusation Daniel had thrown our way either.”

 

Giggling, yes, _giggling_ , Guang Hong shrugged helplessly. “According to the Athena cabin, there is a camp-wide bet going on _when_ we get together.”

 

“You’re kidding?” Leo laughed nervously, eyeing him with worried eyes. “Right?”

 

Feeling happy and giddy, why shouldn’t he, Leo returned his feelings, Guang Hong shook his head. “Nah- I found out only a couple of days ago though, but even the Athena cabin is on board- _Seung-gil_ is on board. That means the Aphrodite kids must have made a strong argument _why_ we are ‘perfect’ for each other.”

 

Leo’s face grew several shades darker, his lips parted like a fish on the land. “How- how did they- seriously, how,” Leo was stuttering, fingers flexing nervously and a feet kicking against Grace’s chair. “How did we manage to fed off the Aphrodite cabin for _two_ years. They usually make quick work of getting people together.”

 

Yeah, no kidding. The moment they figured there was mutual attraction between two campers, the children of love geared up for _war_. It was even worse than the Hermes cabin their prank war, and that was downright _terrible_. And, Guang Hong wasn’t even a child of Apollo, stuck with infirmary duty that usually was necessary during and after prank war.

 

“On a second thought…”  Leo was grinning slightly, foot gently nudging Daniel’s seat. “If it hadn’t been for him, I probably wouldn’t have, you know, actually confessed my feelings. Because, apparently this kid is way more observant than I am- if he hadn’t pointed out you were gay, well…” a silence followed and the ‘what if’ hung in the air, weighing heavy on them. “And I dare to bet my right as head of the campfire sing along that this kiddo is a son of Aphrodite.”

 

“Well, if so, we won’t have to worry that they won’t fit right in, the Aphrodite children probably would worship him.”

 

Leo let out a nervous laughter. “Worshipping is a bit too exaggerated- yet, I’m happy you asked me along to this quest because otherwise, this would have never happened.”

 

This probably was implying the proper confession they had been procrastinating for months, no, _years_. The fact that they had been dancing around each other for years in front of others. The hundreds of demigods who had seen them crushing on each other, yet finding out that they were in fact, were not together.

 

“I-”

 

A sudden idea popped up in his head, and honestly, it felt the right thing to do. Between the word vomits, feelings and general spillage of emotions, the confession didn’t felt proper.

 

“Can we start over again,” Guang Hong asked carefully, hoping that he didn’t say anything wrong. “Like, a proper confession, clean-cut, no explanations, just sharing our thoughts and decide what we’ll do from there on.”

 

Leo’s facially features grew softer, his eyes brimming with life, his lips curled up in a kind smile. “I like the sound of that,” he said, his voice filled with unexpected fondness. “So, you start or should I?”

 

“I’ll, if you don’t mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I survived the first week of college and managed to squeeze some editing time for this chapter- I can't guarantee the next chapter will be up next week, but I'll try. (Still struggling with managing school and writing.)
> 
> Per usual, comments and kudos always brighten my day, so...


	5. Chapter 5

**October 2016**

Food poisoning was an ass.

 

One moment, Guang Hong had been happily eating dinner with his fellow Demeter campers, the other moment he was emptying his stomach into the toilet bowl. The only thing that made things better was that he wasn’t alone. At least a few dozen or so campers were either feeling feeble, ill, or were emptying their stomachs. Sadly enough, Guang Hong belonged to the third group, which was the worst.

 

“There there,” Emil mumbled, gently patting his back and, surprisingly, pushing his hair back. “You’ll be fine.”

 

Guang Hong let out a pained groan before retching again, wishing it all just could end. It was even a surprise that Emil was there to ‘hold his hand’. Though, on the other hand, about half of the camp was sick, so the Apollo cabin probably had assigned everyone with a bit of responsibility in their bone and was still healthy to help the sick ones. Apparently, Emil had been lucky and had avoided the not-so-good-anymore food. On the other hand, now he had to babysit sick demigods.

 

“I feel like dying,” Guang Hong admitted as he sat down on the bathroom floor.

 

They were already in the infirmary, the head of the infirmary, a child of Apollo but not Leo, had decided to just load everyone in so they could keep an eye on them. So, right now, Guang Hong was occupying the only bathroom attached to the small hospital, and surely, there were others who wanted to empty their stomach.

 

“Don’t worry, Leo said you wouldn’t die,” Emil said chipper, hauling Guang Hong back on his feet and offered him a plastic cup with water. “It’s just food poisoning, drink plenty of fluids and sleep it off.”

 

Guang Hong was pretty sure that Emil was quoting one of the Apollo children, because, face it, the child of Nike only entered the infirmary when he got injured himself and not to help. There was nothing wrong with that- it just lessened Emil’s creditability as a proper doctor, or nurse for that matter.

 

Rinsing his mouth, trying to get rid of the sour aftertaste of vomiting, Guang Hong refilled the cup and drowned it in a hurry. He didn’t want to get forcefully kicked out of the bathroom because he took too long.

 

“There you go,” Emil said happily.

 

A hand was pressed against Guang Hong’s lower back, and in a hurry, Emil steered Guang Hong out of the bathroom. Almost immediately, someone else dived into the bathroom, one of the younger Hecate kids by the looks of it.

 

Emil dropped him off at his cot and went to check up on other people, probably trying to brighten the mood of grumpy and sick demigods. You know, being a child of a god was all cool and all, but couldn’t they add an immune system? No longer struggling with the flu or the common cold seemed nice.

 

“How’s my favourite patient doing?” Leo was smiling tiredly.

 

Leo usually didn’t work in the infirmary, having only a little affinity with healing, but desperate times called for desperate measures. It showed that Leo didn’t do this often, the tiredness, the nervous look on his face- that wasn’t very reassuring for patients- and the fact his nose was twitching in disgust, probably from the stench of vomit. It didn’t help that the stuff on his scrubs definitely wasn’t liquid.

 

“Bad,” Guang Hong grumbled, curling up in the thin blanket. “Stomach ache, though I don’t feel like puking anymore.”

 

Nodding almost appreciative, Leo sat down on the visitor's chair that was located next to Guang Hong’s cot. It seemed that Leo was ready for the day to be over.

 

“I almost wish I was the one lying in bed- I hate infirmary duty,” Leo didn’t sound annoyed, but he did sound tired and pretty overwhelmed.

 

Snorting, Guang Hong threw his friend a blank look. “I think I work more in the infirmary than you, so you have no right to complain,” he pointed out. “Plus, people are busy, so just crawl into an empty cot and sleep, nobody would blame you.”

 

Leo’s eyes lit up immediately. Guang Hong had expected his friend to wish him good night and scramble off to find a cot to sleep in. Leo did the opposite. Sighing in relief, Leo got rid of his scrubs, standing into a pair of shorts and the orange camp-shirt.

 

“I’m sleeping in your cot,” Leo said, ushering Guang Hong to the side. “They will never look here- they would expect me to sleep with my girlfriend, in a non-sexual manner, of course,” his friend hesitated, which was a bit late with one leg already in Guang Hong’s cot. “If you don’t mind.”

 

Did Guang Hong mind? No. He didn’t mind, at all. Heck, he was on board the moment Leo had said it. It might not be in the romantic manner Guang Hong wanted it, but it was cosy, comforting and it would mean he had someone on standby in case his stomach acted up.

 

“Go ahead,” he said, scooting over so that there was more space for the two of them. There wasn’t really enough room- but he didn’t care. He never had issues sharing a bed with other’s, men and women alike.  Even with Leo being his crush, Guang Hong wasn’t going to make it more awkward.

 

It was a bit of a mess to get all the limbs fitted in the cot, despite the fact that both Leo and Guang Hong were a far cry from being the tallest demigods that ran around camp, but in the end, they somewhat managed.

 

“You’re comfortable?” Guang Hong whispered, basically curling up against Leo’s chest. Just platonic snuggling, nothing wrong with that.

 

“I'm all right,” Leo answered. “Though, fairly enough, I think I can sleep anywhere right now.”

 

Guang Hong hummed approvingly. “Well, night. Now to hope that I can sleep this off.”

 

Squeezing his shoulder in a reassuring manner, Leo gently tucked Guang Hong’s head under his chin. “Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll be fine, you’re in capable arms.”

 

“Doubt it, your ‘experience’ as a medic isn’t the most reassuring,” Guang Hong teased.

 

Leo huffed and not so gently squeezed Guang Hong's side, which caused him to squeak in surprise. “Sleep, before I curse you to talk in couplet for an entire month,” Leo threatened, though it didn’t sound threatening at all. “And I’m not kidding.”

 

He was about to protest, but then Leo had decided that pressing a kiss on the top of his head was a _brilliant_ idea. His protest died on his lips, it felt as if the air was knocked out of him and his heart pounded wildly. Surely, Leo would hear that- it would be a miracle if he didn’t.

 

“Sorry,” Leo mumbled. “Habit- if my siblings get nightmares, I’m the one who tucks them in again.”

 

Swallowing away his nerves, Guang Hong let out a soft sigh. “It’s okay, just caught me off guard. But I’m trying to sleep- _you_ are the one who has planned on cursing me to speak in couplets only if I don’t try.”

 

Thankfully, this seemed to do the trick. Leo laughed softly, murmured another ‘good night’ before falling into a comfortable silence.

 

**April 2017**

“Okay- uhm, Leo,” Guang Hong shifted uncomfortably, his ADHD was acting up, and the bus-seats weren’t too comfortable. “I have to tell you something.”

 

It was silly- Leo already knew what he was going to say- yet, without a doubt, his friend looked nervous.

 

“You do?” Leo asked nervously, licking his lips.

 

Nodding, Guang Hong let out a small, trembling breath. This was stupid, he had already confessed. “I like you,” he started, wringing his hands together. “Like, in, like _like_. The romantic kind of like, for, like, ages.”

 

There must be some sort of record of how many times you could put the word ‘like’ in two sentences.

 

“And, well,” Guang Hong turned entirely to Leo, smiling nervously. “If you're interested, would you like to go on a date or something like that? Of course, you don’t have to return my feelings- I mean, that we’re both into men doesn’t mean we’re both interested in each other.”

 

To his surprise, Leo’s jaw grew slack, pupils were blown wide in surprise. “I- uh,” he seemed to be lost for words.

 

In reality, it barely took a dozen of seconds for Leo to properly recover, yet it felt like it took minutes, _hours_. Maybe Leo hadn’t expected to move that fast, maybe all he wanted was to confess and wait a bit before, you know, moving forward with their relationship.

 

“Yes,” Leo blurted out. “I would love to go on a date with you. I have been crushing on you since, well, forever is a bit exaggerated, but for a long time. I mean, you’re so stupidly sweet and kind, and I couldn’t ask for more.”

 

Letting out a nervous chuckle, Guang Hong let his hand brush against Leo, trying to be somewhat subtle. Though, nothing was subtle for well-trained demigods who were supposed to notice pretty much everything, thanks to their so-called ADHD.

 

“I’m glad for that,” Guang Hong said. “Because I fear I can’t offer you much more than I’m currently doing.”

 

Seeing Leo growing flustered did weird things to his stomach, though, to be honest, now matter what Leo did it managed to affect him in one way or another.

 

“You being you is plenty,” Leo said, struggling not to stumble over his words. A short pause followed. “You’re smiling again.”

 

Blinking in surprise, Guang Hong prodded the corner of his smile with one finger. Oh yeah, he was smiling. That was nothing new.

 

“This isn’t the first time I smile, you know?”

 

Leo laughed almost angelic, damn Apollo genes, and _finally_ laced his fingers with Guang Hong’s. It fitted nicely.

 

“For the last few days, you haven’t been smiling genuinely,” Leo pointed out, squeezing his hand. “I like your smile, a lot.”

 

Guang Hong was surprised that Leo liked his smile. There only had been one person in the past who had pointed out his smile, and Guang Hong had no idea who it was. Honestly, Guang Hong wasn’t even sure if the person in question had realised what the flower meant. Probably they had, as the flowers had been rather specific.

 

“Wait a second,” Guang Hong stared at Leo with wide eyes. “The flowers,” he mumbled. “Valentine’s Day- _you_.”

 

Leo looked like a kid caught stealing candy out of a jar. Eventually, he nodded slowly, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. “You weren’t supposed to figure that out,” he mumbles.

 

“Then you shouldn’t make the meaning so obvious,” Guang Hong pointed out, smiling broadly. “Not that I mind, they were lovely the last two years, just surprising. I thought some younger camper fancied me.”

 

Guang Hong managed to make Leo chuckled, thankfully not nervously. “Well, that’s a tad difficult as I’m older than you,” Leo pointed out. “But I definitely do fancy you.”

 

**Valentine 2016**

 

“One bouquet of red rose, as requested.”

 

Guang Hong basically dropped the large bouquet of rose in Leo’s lap, alarming the son of Apollo. Leo had been drowsy off, which wasn’t surprising. The children of Apollo rose with the sun, though that didn’t mean they were morning people. Because Leo was definitely not a morning person. Usually, it would take him quite a bit longer than his siblings to get out of bed, often opting to sit in bed and trying not to dowse off. Guang Hong knew this because he often had dragged Leo out of bed.

 

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Leo carefully picked up the bouquet of roses, inspecting them. “They’re beautiful,” Leo breathed, holding them close to his chest. “Was it difficult to get them?”

 

Letting out a laugh, Guang Hong thankfully wasn’t _too_ terrible with mornings, he shook his head. “Son of Demeter, I just whipped them out of the ground and tied them together, a few of my sisters has shown me how to make a bouquet. After all, Valentine Day is good business for us, especially the moment we started to work together with the Hermes campers.”

 

Because of their usually short lives, demigods often threw themselves into relationships. But being teenagers, they often needed a boost to actually pull forward, hence why most of them started dating at the 4th of July, Christmas _or_ Valentine’s Day. So, as Valentime's Day was popular, flower bouquets were popular and a good source of money.

 

“So, let me guess, this isn’t the first bouquet you dropped off?”

 

Leo gently placed the flowers on the bed as he got out, probably finally getting dressed. Blushing slightly, Guang Hong turned around, giving his best friend some privacy.

 

“Nah, the Aphrodite children spend a small fortune on flowers,” Guang Hong told Leo. “And a few Hermes campers wanted to impress their crush in a different way than pranking them.”

 

Feeling a gentle tap on his shoulder, Guang Hong turned around to face his friend.

 

“And, any plans on your own?” Leo questioned, gently balancing on the balls of his feet. He was dressed in his typical attire, shorts, sneakers and the bright orange camp-shirt.

 

Guang Hong shook his head. “No,” he said, willing away the rapidly forming blush. “Just playing delivery boy and making sure that the Aphrodite kids don’t do anything… extreme.”

 

Surprisingly, Leo almost looked disappointed. But that was probably his imagination, or Leo hoped that Guang Hong finally would find a lovely guy to settle down with, or at least for Valentine’s Day.

 

“Though,” Guang Hong said slowly, grinning softly. “I do have something else for you- one of my siblings was really into it and made way too much.”

 

Leaving Leo in the dark and pretty confused, Guang Hong hurriedly slipped out of the Apollo cabin. A small wheelbarrow, Guang Hong had no idea how the Hermes kids had gotten their hands on the mortal object, was stationed just outside, loaded with bouquets. It was a lot easier just to make rounds with a barrow filled with non-squashed bouquets than run around with arms filled with squashed bouquets.

 

Picking up one of the bright yellow flower-crowns- one of the younger Demeter kids had accidentally grown yellow roses instead of red- Guang Hong gently placed it on top his head. One of the guys had wanted to learn how to braid a flower-crown to impress his girlfriend, and the rest of the cabin had jumped aboard. The yellow roses, who clearly weren’t fitting for a day of _romance_ , had been the unfortunate victim of their short-lived hipster phase. Though some sweet flower crowns came out of it, two of which Guang Hong managed to snatch up.

 

Securing the crown with a few borrowed hairpins, Guang Hong picked up the second one and returned back inside the Apollo cabin, not even bothering to knock. Knocking was for the weak and the polite, and Guang Hong was neither. Though, reasonably enough, the sun children weren’t the most modest campers of them all, so Guang Hong doubted most of them minded if Guang Hong caught them half-naked.

 

“Do you think roses are cliche?”

 

Guang Hong blinked, eyeing his best friend with surprise. He literally had just set foot in the cabin and Leo was already bombarding him with a question.

 

The son of Apollo in question was fidgeting nervously, fingers twitching as he held the bouquet tightly.

 

“I think roses are just fine,” Guang Hong said wearily, not sure what to answer. “But I’m not a son of Persephone, so my flower-knowledge is pretty limited.”

 

Leo let out a nervous chuckle, eyes wandering nervously before settling down on the top of Guang Hong’s head.

 

“A flower crown,” Leo said, not even in a quizzical matter. “It’s cute.”

 

Guang Hong definitely couldn’t will away his blush. “Ah, thanks,” he mumbled. “My cabin had his hipster phase- I also have one for you.”

 

He almost pushed the yellow flowers in Leo’s face, ducking his face to hide his idiotic red flush. “For you, if you want. I had to fight tooth and nail to get more than one crown, but I can always give it to someone else.”

 

In all honesty, Guang Hong had expected Leo to decline the flower crown. It seemed something more fitting for the Aphrodite children or the grape-loving Dionysus children. But, with complete and most care, Leo took the waved crown from Guang Hong’s slightly trembling hands.

 

“Why yellow roses?” Leo asked quietly.

 

Looking up to have a proper conversation, Guang Hong saw Leo gently placing the flowers on his head. Yellow looked good on him, which was stupid. Why did a simple flower crown seem so fitting on Leo’s head? Honestly, the answer was simple, Guang Hong had a mad crush on Leo, and everything was endearing, cute or hot.

 

“Friendship, joy, good health,” Guang Hong said. “A Demeter kid summoned them by accident, but as Valentine’s day isn’t solely about romantic love…” he made a nonsensical hand gesture.

 

A hesitant smile played on Leo’s lips, his flower crown slipping off slightly. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah, I think they’re cute,” Guang Hong offered Leo a bright smile. “Plus I believe that we can annoy actual hipster Phichit a lot by wearing them- I think Phichit would _kill_ for a genuine flower crown.”

 

To his relief, Leo smiled brighter, more secure. “Yeah, well, we can torment Phichit later,” he said. “I first have to deliver these ones,” Leo gestured to the bouquet of roses.

 

Nodding, Guang Hong watched Leo head out of the cabin, leaving Guang Hong alone in cabin seven. Without much trying, he let his chipper facade fall. He didn’t really like Valentine’s Day, especially considering that Leo was in a happy relationship with a sweet, objectively beautiful girl and Guang Hong was, well, single.

 

~*~

 

It seemed that, for whatever reason, Valentine’s Day had dragged _on_. On and on, feeling like it lasted way too long. Exhausted, Guang Hong crashed down on his bed, not even bothering to kick off his flip-flops or remove the flower-crown from the mop of his freshly showered hair. Seeing all the happy couples cuddling around camp and most of the single men and women moping around was tiring. The only good thing about the day was that, in fact, most of his friends were single.

 

Seung-gil didn’t care about Valentine’s Day, though some younger kids had roped him into braiding flowers into his hair. So, for most of the day, the head of the Athena cabin had walked around with dandelions woven into his hair. Phichit had been mopey but managed to return to his usual Hermes kid behaviour eventually and pranked as many couples as possible, bringing joy to the single campers. Despite being single, Emil had enjoyed Valentine’s Day a lot, but to be fair, Emil was just a joyful person. The son of Nike probably could make a funeral a party without trying, enjoying the good parts of their lives instead of the bad parts.

 

Actually, the only one who really had enjoyed Valentine’s Day was Leo, at least, that was what Guang Hong assumed.

 

“Hey, Ji,” one of his brother said, throwing a, hopefully clean, sock at him. “Somebody left something behind for you.”

 

Rolling on his side, Guang Hong sought out the person where the voice belonged to. “Yes? What is it?”

 

The Demeter camper, he probably was only a few months younger than him, hopped off his bottom bunk, reaching for something that was out of Guang Hong’s line of vision. Then, a large bouquet of unfamiliar flowers came in sight.

 

They were pretty. Large clusters of flowers were tied together in an almost wedding-like bouquet. The colours mainly ranged between red, pink and purple with the occasional white halo or a white edge.

 

“They’re pretty,” Guang Hong said, though honestly pretty didn’t cut it. Beautiful? Yes, Beautiful sounded better. Though maybe the fact someone had gotten him flowers was enough to impress him.

 

One of the older girls giggled. “Yes, they’re magical,” she said. “No idea who send them,” she actually sounded honest. “But I know what they’re.”

 

“Dianthus barbatus,” one of the other girls said, mirroring her half-sister’s giggle. “Sweet William’s. Native to southern Europe and parts of Asia,” she summed up. “Probably named after Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, or William Shakespeare, but the meaning is much more important.”

 

It seemed, judging by the looks on his half-sibling their faces, they _knew_ the meaning, and it was a nice one.

 

“Gallantry,” the same guy started. “Fitting for our most courageous fighter, and, it also means ‘Will you smile?’ if the Internet is correct.”

 

For a brief moment, Guang Hong wondered _how_ his cabin-mates had gotten access to the Internet- Internet attracted monsters so he actually should scold them- but in the end, he decided that he just wanted to cradle the bouquet close to himself and call it a day.

 

Guang Hong sat up, slinging his legs over the edge of his bed. “Gimme them,” he said, making grabbing motions towards the bouquet. The fact that someone had given him a Valentine present was astonishing- especially considering his siblings were completely and utterly clueless _who_ it was. Because, despite not being Aphrodite children and born gossipers, none of them backed out of a good round of gossip.

 

His younger half-brother handed him the bouquet, a trace of disappointment lingering on his face. “There was no card,” he grumbled. “What’s the point of handing out flowers when you don’t give them your name?”

 

Surprisingly, not all of his siblings sided with his oldest brother. “Because it’s romantic,” one of the older girls chided. “Maybe they’re shy, perhaps it’s adoration. The bouquet isn’t necessarily romantic, you know.”

 

A few of the girls hummed in agreement. “Yes- it also can be adoration,” one said gleefully. “Though I’m aiming for romantic intentions.”

 

As pretty much the majority of the Demeter campers started to _squeal_ , including a few of the male ones, Guang Hong wondered if he should have just ignored the claiming and joined the Ares campers. They at least wouldn’t make such a spectacle of his sad love life.

 

“But _who_ was it? Lee?”

 

Multiple suggestions were shouted, certainly keeping everyone in the cabin awake. Heck, their neighbour, Athena, probably was wondering what was going on in there. At least Aphrodite wasn’t located next to them, as they certainly would have used the opportunity to nose around and scoop up some gossip.

 

“Silence!” Guang Hong barked, holding the flowers protectively close to his chest. “It’s past curfew, so _sleep._ I appreciate the concern but-” he bit his bottom lip in worry. “Just let it be. ”

 

He was honestly surprised that the cabinet grew quiet in a matter of seconds after a few apologies were thrown around.

 

Guang Hong gently placed the bouquet of flowers, still tied together, in a leftover vase and hurriedly filled it with water. With the number of watering cans that were scattered around the room, it wasn’t hard to find some leftover water.

 

With a few quick hand-gestures, Guang Hong made the lights flicker off, the curtains were drawn, and a few night-lights assured that colourful dots scattered around the room. For a lot of children, it was comforting to have some source of light, and as the main lamps didn’t cut it, they went back to night-lights. Maybe Valentine’s day wasn’t too bad- even without Leo.

 

**April 2017**

They had been pretty lucky all in all. They had run in a single Dracaena, snake women, in New York, but she barely stood a chance against the force of three, well-trained demigods. So they arrived back at camp, with the two siblings in tow, pretty unscathed. Aside from the injuries they had sustained during the fight against the Chimera- Guang Hong’s ankle, Phichit’s nearly burned-off eyebrows and Grace’s minor arm-injury she made much bigger than it was, of course.

 

“I told you I'm all right,” Guang Hong murmured, glaring at a fretting Leo. The son of Apollo didn’t even look up from running around the infirmary, collecting whatever he needed for wrapped Guang Hong’s still bruised ankle.

 

“You’re fine when I tell you,” Leo lectured. “I’m the medic here.”

 

Guang Hong was about to protest- telling Leo that it would heal naturally, but Leo decided to prob his ankle, grinning almost evil. Hissing in pain, Guang Hong knew that Leo had won the argument. The strain he had put on it during their way back hadn’t been doing him favours, and it seemed that Leo had noticed. The only one, it seemed, as Phichit disappeared with Daniel to show him around, and plenty of the other male demigods threw themselves at Grace, offering themselves to show her around camp. Woods, who hadn’t been at camp in ages, immediately went off finding the other Satyrs and catch up with them. Understandably, but this left Leo and Guang Hong alone in a matter of seconds.

 

He would never admit it, but having your foot wrapped by your boyfriend was kind of therapeutic. Though, Guang Hong wasn’t even sure _if_ they were boyfriends. Leo had agreed on a date, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were boyfriends.

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

Thankfully, Leo opted to just hum and not make an awful dad-joke.

 

Swallowing his nerves- it was just an innocent question, Guang Hong voice his thoughts “Are we boyfriends?”

 

Leo paused wrapping his ankle for a few, terribly long-lasting, seconds before continuing with steady fingers. “If you want,” he said, his voice betraying his nerves. “I would love to be your boyfriend.”

 

“Then it’s settled.”

 

Smiling brightly, Guang Hong watched as Leo’s face grew flustered, a delightful smile breaking his usual more professional facade as a healer.

 

It took Leo way longer than usual to wrap his ankle. Guang Hong noticed because, one, this wasn’t the first time he had injured his foot and Leo had taken care of it. It didn’t take this long. Secondly, some of the other campers who were having their shift were eyeing them with a puzzled expression, probably wondering why it took Leo, who was a somewhat decent healer, so long to do a simple wrapping job.

 

“So…” Guang Hong made sure that no-one else could hear him. “When are we going to tell the campers that we are, you know,” he failed miserably bringing across his point, just flailing his arms around a bit. “Involved.”

 

It was stupid how easily these words made him blush and smile like crazy. Thankfully, Leo shared his suffering, looking rather flustered.

                                                                                                                              

“I’m not sure,” Leo mumbled in response, playing with a piece of an Ace bandage. “We’ll just come out to one, and the rumours start to spread and well…”

 

Was that the best way to do it? Probably. But for whatever reason, Guang Hong wanted revenge. Revenge for all the campers who had been betting on them, knowing perfectly well that the feelings were mutual, because the Aphrodite children were good at that, figuring out love.

 

A crazy smile formed on his lips and he eyed Leo with probably a crazy look, judging from the mild confusion written over his _boyfriend_ _’s_ face.

 

“I actually have an idea,” Guang Hong said slowly, letting the words sink in. “It’s April- summer isn’t too far away. So I was thinking of waiting a bit and well, bring chaos to the camp.”

 

“As the head of my cabin and supposedly responsible person, I shouldn’t agree to this- yet…” the crazy grin on Leo’s face was enough of an answer.

 

Even as just a Demeter kid, Guang Hong dared to believe his smile lit up the infirmary. “That’s exactly why I love you. You look all cool and laid-back, but you’re just as crazy as the rest,” he said between grinning, not even fully realising what he was saying.

 

For both of them, it took a few seconds for the words to actually sink in.

 

 _Oh._ That did just happen.

 

~*~

 

Sitting down at the campfire, ‘casually’ leaning against Leo and hearing Woods retelling their adventures was probably the best way to end the day. For once, Leo wasn’t in charge of the sing along that just had passed, deciding to sit a few out and leave it to the younger Apollo kids, who were pretty content. This left the Apollo camper all to Guang Hong.

 

“You’re tired?” Leo whispered, making sure not to interrupt Woods’ heroic retelling of the fight against the Chimera. Occasionally, either Phichit or Daniel piped in, adding their own piece. The two siblings had, indeed, been claimed by Aphrodite a few hours ago, and were now stuck in a tacky get-up that was part of ‘Aphrodite’s blessing’, which was more of a curse than anything else.

 

“Exhausted,” Guang Hong mumbled, dropping his head on Leo’s shoulders. With their arms squashed together, he easily could link their pinkies together behind their backs. Nobody would see it. “I think I could sleep for a week or so.”

 

Chuckling, Leo gave him a gentle shove. “Same here,” he admitted. “I can’t wait to sleep in a proper bed and not spooning in a box-sized bedroom.”

 

“I actually do like box-sized bedrooms,” Guang Hong said in disagreement. “It basically got us together.”

 

Leo basically glowed with happiness. Scrap that, he actually glowed softly, Apollo thing, though thankfully the campfire made it hard to actually notice.

 

Mirroring Leo’s smile, Guang Hong made himself comfortable and let his eyes wander over the campers. Thankfully none of them was eyeing them weirdly, either paying attention to Woods’ retelling or paying attention to their own conversation. Well, it seemed like _almost_ everyone was paying attention to something else.

 

Guang Hong felt his stomach drop slightlyas he made eye-contact with Seung-gil, who was eyeing them with a calculated expression.

 

Instead of actually looking guilty of being caught, the son of wisdom kept on eyeing them for a few long seconds before realisation dawning upon him.

 

Dark eyes grew big with surprise, jaw became slack, though not yet jaw-dropped- you had to do your best to get Seung-gil jaw-dropped.

 

Feeling his own smile falter a bit, Guang Hong gentle placed his finger against his own lips, shaking his head subtly. _Keep quiet, please_.

 

Thankfully, Seung-gil nodded curtly and schooled his expression. Though the quirk in his neutral smile was hard to ignore. Hopefully, not everyone was that observant, as otherwise, they wouldn’t make it ‘till the summer to make their relationship public.

 

 

**July 2017**

Guang Hong both loved and hated the summer. The camp was insanely busy, like, off-season count of members times ten. The Demeter cabin was bustling with life, and it was hard to get everyone quiet. After all, nearly each bunk-bed occupied. Maybe each of them would be occupied once the round of claiming started- there was a whole new batch of campers who had yet to find out who their parents were.

 

But there were also nice things that came with the summer. The weather seemed to be better, despite having weather control at camp. Plus the new faces was nice, seeing children wander around in amazement, eyes wide with curiosity. Plus, with so many older campers returning to the cabins, Guang Hong’s schedule wasn’t insane anymore, which meant more time with Leo.

 

“One minute before we leave for breakfast,” Guang Hong announced, watching as his siblings run around chaotically. Some of them were looking for a particular piece of clothing, other’s were still fixing their hair, and a few really lazy kids were hurriedly scraping an outfit together after dragging their asses out of bed.

 

They weren’t finished in a minute, but Guang Hong could hardly blame them. Also, after being the head of the cabin for a while, he had learnt that lying wasn’t the worst. They still had a solid five minutes left, but the kids didn’t have to know that.

 

Stepping outside was like a fresh breath of air. The sun was already shining merrily, and Guang Hong gratefully soaked in the warmth. A gentle wind brushed against his bare skin, the smell of food hit them all at once.

 

It took a little to settle all his siblings down at the table- it was hectic to have such a large group of kids under his wing- and Guang Hong was relieved to plop down on the wooden bench. He would be out like a rock tonight.

 

His breakfast, however, didn’t last too long. Before he could even start on his pancakes, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Stubbornly stuffing a piece of pancake in his mouth, Guang Hong looked back, throwing the camper a stinky eye.

 

Leo seemed far from impressed with his grumpy look. He just quizzically raised an eyebrow and waited for Guang Hong to un-grouch.

 

“How can I help you?” Guang Hong eventually asked, his mind not fully functioning yet.

 

“Well,” Leo’s voice vibrated with nerves, which was odd. Leo was rarely nervous. “I just wanted to ask you something. In private.”

 

Nodding, Guang Hong managed to leave the clutches of the bench. It was rather hard to get away when you had no space to actually move your legs.

 

“So, what do you want to ask?” It better must be good, as Guang Hong was really in the mood for pancakes, which was the only thing he really was in the mood for today. Because from the moment he would leave the dining pavilion, the migraines would start.

 

Hesitating for a brief moment, Leo’s face fell into determination. With an, admittedly, shamefully squeak, Guang Hong felt Leo pull him close, the latter’s hand securely resting on his lips.

 

“This was your idea, remember,” Leo murmured, their lips were inches away.

 

Guang Hong blinked, ignoring the many sets of eyes watching them with interest. “I forgot,” he admitted, a small smile crawling on his lips. “But I’m still in.”

 

Looking relieved, Leo cupped his cheek with his free hand and brought their lips together for a kiss.

 

Despite that this wasn’t their first kiss, far from actually, Guang Hong still felt all giggly and happy. Standing on his tip-toes, he threw his arms around Leo’s neck and happily returned the kiss.

 

The camp went _nuts_. There were screams, catcalls, wolf-whistles, some older, responsible campers yelled that there were _kids_. Though, the loudest person was Phichit, who sounded like somebody denied him a lifetime of Christmas celebrations. Guang Hong couldn’t be happier with the response.

 

As they parted after a while, Guang Hong looked up at Leo, who greeted him with happiness filled eyes and a bright flush on his cheeks.

 

“You’re evil,” Leo whispered. “I already see money being exchanged.”

 

Grinning cheekily, Guang Hong pecked Leo’s lips. “That was the goal.”

 

 

“Chiron will kill us though,” Leo pointed out.

 

It was worth getting in trouble with Chiron. Maybe the Centaur was in a good mood and would let them off with a light punishment. After all, Guang Hong was pretty sure that Chiron had a soft-spot for him or at least a certain level of fondness.

 

“I can live with that,” Guang Hong mumbled, letting his head fall on Leo’s shoulder. Instinctively, Leo pulled him even closer, tucking Guang Hong’s head underneath his,

 

“I love you,” he whispered against Leo’s shoulder, knowing for sure Leo could hear him.

 

Leo nuzzled his nose in Guang Hong’s hair, whispering the same words in return.

 

~*~

 

The majority of the betting pool was won by the Athena cabin, who used the money to buy an insane amount of dusty books. But in all honesty, Guang Hong had never seen the Athena children happier than when they were being surrounded by ancient books, so it seemed to be money well spent. At the end of the Summer, Daniel was crowned as the matchmaker of the summer, nobody even tried to take away the title from him, and Phichit had claimed the role as best man for their non-existing wedding before moving off to college with Seung-gil and a few other campers. Thankfully, their relationship wasn't the talk of the camp for too long, so after a few weeks or so, Guang Hong and Leo had managed to properly combine camp-life and their romantic life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's done! The ending is a bit _meh_ , but I never had been good at properly ending stuff. Thanks for joining me on this wild ride- it never was supposed to be nearly 30k long, but here we are *insert awkward jazz-hands*. Thanks for commenting, kudo-ing and reading. This had been a really personal project as I really wanted to do something with the Percy Jackson world, yet I wasn't far enough with the books to really delve into that fandom. 
> 
> Not sure when my next project will be up- I have something in the works but that might take a bit with college being an ass.


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